Of Padawans Fake and True (Master Eeth Koth Padawan Raven Trebeck)
by SWFicWriters
Summary: The first story in our Eeth & Raven saga. Eleven-year-old Initiate Raven Trebeck sneaks out of creche and discovers more than she bargained for. Warning: This story contains frequent spanking scenes of a non-sexual, disciplinary nature and occasional coarse language. Don't enjoy, don't read. We do not endorse the spanking of real children. This is fiction.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hi to everyone who followed us, and to any new faces! Over the past months, we've been editing stories that originated as online role-playing, situated in the Star Wars universe - well, mainly the universe of Episode One, pretending the Great Jedi Purge never happens. ;) We are now getting to the characters we started with, Eeth Koth and his second padawan, Raven Trebeck – in our Alternate Universe which we started long before the Clone Wars series. The story of how they meet was the very first thread we co-authored way back in 2005! Man, time flies, right? So, re-reading and editing this is going to be fun for us! There are approximately twenty-five stories pre-written in this series, so we have a lot of work to do.

Now for some housekeeping. We realise that our master characters, especially Eeth, will at times come across as harsh to some. However, please keep in mind that this is a fictional universe in which teenagers with extraordinary, potentially lethal abilities are raised to do an incredibly hard, dangerous and responsible job. Their masters feel an obligation to keep them in line in order to protect them and others by various types of discipline, including corporal punishment, i.e., spanking with the hand and different implements. And sometimes, they will need to dispense with the cuddling and tell their charges to do their duty. These are teenagers, after all, not small children. There will always be times to offer comfort and moments of closeness between master and padawan, but they might sometimes have to wait. Plus, masters might have their own issues… which is certainly true for Eeth, as will become clear over time. His journey with Raven will be a learning experience for him as much as for his padawan. Fortunately for our padawans, our master characters have near-magical healing abilities at their disposal, allowing us to indulge our preference for strict discipline. ;)

We realise that this might not be everybody's cup of tea. We assure you, though, that there's always character development and growth involved in our story arcs. If you like our stories (or if you don't like them), write us a review; we love to hear what you guys think. Okay, so here we go. Enjoy.

* * *

"Oh, and you know what? Next week, Master Deleon is taking me to the Senate," twelve-year-old Orion Minarioth told his oldest friend, Raven Trebeck. He was not quite able to hide the excitement in his voice, mature as he was trying to come across. After all, he had been made a padawan two weeks ago. He was not a mere initiate any longer! And while he did not exactly want to treat Raven in a superior manner, he still felt rather grown-up when compared to her – not so much because of the difference in age, which was a little less than a year, but because of their difference in status. He was a padawan now while she was still an initiate. Among other things, that meant he could visit her in the creche in his free time, but she could not visit him in his new quarters because those were in the main Temple, which was off-limits to initiates unless accompanied by a Jedi knight or master.

Without giving Raven a chance to respond, he continued to chatter: "You should see the aerials gym! The creche gyms are nothing when compared to it. Of course, Master Deleon won't allow me on any but the smallest trampolines but even those are fantastic. I really hope you're chosen as a padawan soon so we can go together."

Although she tried hard not to be jealous – jealousy had no place in the life of a Jedi, after all – Raven could not help but envy her friend over having been chosen as a padawan. He was better at classwork than she was, and although that wasn't what dictated whether an initiate was chosen by a master, sometimes Raven wondered whether, if she were just a bit smarter, that bit more diligent in her studies, perhaps the Force would find her a master. She looked over at Orion. His dark brown eyes were bright with excitement over the things he'd told her, and it was contagious. Any feelings of jealousy that she might have held dissipated as he spoke, morphing into another emotion: joy for the fortune of her best friend and the fact that they could still see each other!

"Hmm, you can keep the Senate," she told him jovially. Force knew that having to sit through diplomacy classes as an initiate was bad enough. "But the aerials gym, now that sounds cool!" Raven scooted forward on her seat, pulling her feet up beneath her to sit taller. She often did this as she was quite small and lithe for an eleven-year-old human. "I'd give anything to see that!" And Raven meant it, too, because unlike her lacklustre academic career, athletics and lightsaber work was where she truly shined.

"Yeah, well, unfortunately, I can't take you," Orion said with a sigh. "I asked my master, actually. He didn't want to take you either." Deleon had also told him the reason for his refusal: it was unwise to expose initiates to the lives of padawans and Jedi knights too much, he said, given that there was no way of knowing whether they would be chosen for such a career. For all they knew, Raven might not be, and in that case, it would not do to increase her longing for it. Orion secretly thought that stupid. Raven was an ace with a lightsaber and was gifted at using the Force to communicate with animals. There was no way she was not going to be chosen! He did not tell her any of this, though. That might just discourage her.

His eyes lit up again as he thought of the gym and how thrilled Raven would be with it. "You should see the obstacle courses, too!" he told Raven. "I've only managed the easiest one, and so far, my master hasn't allowed me to try it with an ignited saber. But I bet you'd do much better than me." Orion was quite diligent in his workouts and was decent with a lightsaber but he was not a natural like Raven.

Raven's face fell a little at hearing that he wasn't allowed to take her. Then again, sticking to the rules had never been one of her strong suits. Raven often found ways to bend the rules to suit. It had always been hard for her to accept the authority of others given that she was such an independent, self-reliant personality. She grinned as an idea struck her. "Hey, what if nobody knew I was an initiate?" she suggested, her mind concocting the plan as she spoke. "You could loan me one of your uniforms and nobody would be any the wiser?" Raven knew that it was a big ask, and she did not want to get Orion into trouble with his new master, but the possibility of being caught out was virtually zero!

Orion frowned and hesitated. He knew what a trouble-magnet Raven could be. He himself was not but he had gotten into trouble more than once because of her great ideas! He had to admit, though, that they had had a huge amount of unlicensed fun on account of her great ideas, too. And it wasn't as if they had always been caught. The thought of showing Raven around the main Temple was rather appealing. He had made no close friends among the junior padawans so far, and in any case, none of them seemed as much fun to be with as Raven.

"I dunno," he said, undecided. "I'm not sure Master Deleon would be thrilled if he found out. And it goes without saying that you'd be in serious trouble. I guess I'd be expected to keep you out of it, rather than help you find it, being a padawan and all."

"I guess you're right there, but we're Jedi, not soldiers; we have to know when it's okay to bend the rules. This can't do any harm. Nobody will be hurt, soooo," Raven bargained, a huge, toothy grin on her face. "C'mon, Orion, there is no way we can get caught. Master Deleon gives you free time, and I'll just ask Lowfac for permission to take a walk in the creche gardens with you which will keep him off my back for a few hours at the least."

"But I'm two sizes bigger than you are," Orion argued. However, it was clear from his tone of voice that he knew it was a battle he was destined to lose. And he didn't really want to win it, anyway. He knew how thrilled Raven would be to see the main gym, even if she didn't get to try any of the equipment. Watching the Jedi masters spar was really something else!

He sighed. "Alright," he said. "I might not be free tomorrow since I've got a presentation to prepare for my physics class. But the day after is Saturday and I've got those free. At least as long as I don't get into trouble, or so Master Deleon said." He grinned at Raven. "Are you free after breakfast?" he asked. "We could meet here at ten. I'll bring you a spare uniform and you bring something to shorten the hems. The width won't be such a problem; you'll be wearing a belt, after all."

If Raven's smile got any broader it would threaten to split her face. She jumped from her chair and hugged him. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou," she said, doing an admirable job at curtailing her exuberance when all she wanted to do was cover him in kisses! "Duct tape, is there no end to its uses?" Raven had shown about as much interest in sewing lessons as she had in diplomacy, namely, none whatsoever. Thus, while she could probably manage a crude job at a hem, the tape would be far easier and quicker.

Master Lowfac noticed Raven's delight over… something and he came to investigate; it had always paid to err on the side of caution when those two got together. He greeted Orion, complimenting his former student on his newly acquired status. When he was satisfied that no obvious mischief was afoot, at least not for the moment, he moved on to another group of students.

Raven turned to Orion once the man was out of earshot and whispered: "Piece of cake. Wait and see."

"I hope you're right," Orion whispered back. Out loud, he said: "Alright, I'll see you on Saturday, then. We'll take a stroll in the garden or something. For now, I need to get back to my master." It felt good to say that, he had to admit. He grinned at her, got up, waved her goodbye and left.

* * *

"No, we're NOT going to get on the trampolines," Orion hissed, pulling at Raven's too-wide uniform sleeve to drag her along. "First, you need to book them in advance. If we go in there now, the people who booked the room are bound to show up a few minutes later and ask questions. Second, I'm not allowed there without my master, and neither would you be even if you WERE a padawan. So if anybody sees us on one of the trampolines, again, they're bound to ask questions. I said I'd show you around but I'm really not keen on getting into trouble!"

He glanced at the wall chronometer, a little worried. As predicted, Raven was more than thrilled to see the main gyms but Orion hadn't expected that she would want to see absolutely everything and take so long about it! Clearly, she wanted to make the most of the experience and he could understand that but they needed to get back to the creche soon or Master Lowfac would go hunting for her.

"Let's make our way back," he said. "We can pass by the main gym where the knights and masters spar. It's quite a sight." Orion was not all that enthusiastic about lightsaber combat himself but he knew that Raven was, and besides, it really WAS quite a sight.

It was a Saturday morning, and that meant there were no Senate sessions and no regular Council meetings either. Many padawans had mission preparation classes on Saturday mornings, as would Orion, apparently, when the next cycle of classes started. Thus, the number of Jedi knights and masters who were free to schedule sparring sessions with their peers was higher now than at any other time of the week. Consequently, the private practice rooms as well as the main gym were packed with Jedi of all ranks and species, running through kata or sparring in teams of two, three or four. A gallery ran around the main gym that permitted spectators to watch the fights. Orion and Raven were by far not the only ones who made use of that opportunity.

Understandably, Raven was reluctant to return to the creche. Everything Orion had shown her, she had wanted to test out, but of course, she could not. It was both exciting and frustrating for the initiate: exciting because it was all fantastically new, not to mention right up Raven's alley! And frustrating because despite this, she couldn't try any of it out lest she land them both in hot water. No amount of personal satisfaction was worth getting Orion in trouble with his new master, and then there were her own consequences to consider, should her creche master find out. Thus, Raven followed Orion to the outside of the gym. There, they were able to walk around the gallery that overlooked the main gym area and observe.

They had barely been there two minutes when Raven spotted – no, not spotted, but sensed something. It wasn't an entirely unusual feeling as Jedi often sensed things through the Force, but this somehow felt different from anything she had sensed before. The idea of not following that feeling was preposterous. "Let's go over there," she told Orion, grabbing his sleeve in case he decided to do something silly like not follow.

Orion rolled his eyes but indulged her. "But only for five more minutes," he said. He didn't get the impression that Raven was listening, though.

Raven had been drawn to a fight happening on the opposite side of the gym between a Zabrak and an Iktotchi which had drawn quite a crowd of people. Raven was mesmerised, not just by the sight, but also by the feeling that was guiding her to observe.

When they reached the other side, Raven pushed her way to the front to get a better view. What she saw had her wide-eyed. The Iktotchi was good, there was no doubt about that, but the Zabrak man was something else. He was powerful, but also incredibly fast and agile! She watched in awe as the two used every conceivable ledge, wall, rope or obstacle within their area to give them an advantage in their fight. At one point it even ranged over the heads of a few other groups. This was by far the most exhilarating sparring match Raven had ever seen. Well, this explained her odd feeling, she thought; lightsaber matches of this calibre were not commonly seen in the creche, so no wonder she had been drawn to it! Then again, this was the first time she'd felt so strongly about viewing a fight. Raven couldn't take her eyes off the Zabrak. He was true poetry in motion and everything she aspired to become. His fighting style was fast-paced and packed with attack sequences that would have flattened his opponent, had the Iktotchi's defences not been so good. However, none of it felt aggressive. Despite the impossible speed and precision of the Zabrak's attacks, he projected calmness.

"These two are members of the Jedi High Council," Orion told her quietly. "Master Deleon and I were called in front of them when I was made his padawan. The Iktotchi is called, uh… oh yes, Saesee Tiin. And everybody knows the Zabrak. He's Eeth Koth. You had better not get on his wrong side because he's rumoured to be super strict. He sure is intimidating, I can tell you that. When I stepped before the Council and saw him glare at me, it made me feel as if I had jam stains on my tunic or something. 'Course I hadn't!"

"Eeth Koth," Raven spoke more to herself than to Orion. She had, of course, heard of him; most everyone had as his no-nonsense approach to teaching had created a few rumours during her years in the creche! This was the first time she had ever seen him in person, though. "He's pretty good. Whoa! Did you see that?!" Raven exclaimed, grabbing a fist full of Orion's sleeve and shaking it. Eeth had just rebounded off a wall and now clung to a ceiling rung by one hand while simultaneously deflecting an attack from below.

Orion snorted. "Pretty good?" he scoffed. "He's the best there is, with the possible exception of Master Yoda. Well, nobody has ever seen Master Yoda spar in public so we wouldn't know but his Force control is obviously superior to everybody else's, given how long he's been around. Master Deleon said only a handful of Jedi masters, like Mace Windu, can occasionally beat Eeth Koth. He's not seen fighting often but when he is, it's usually with Saesee Tiin. Tiin specialises in Soresu, though. It's a purely defensive form which means that he can hold his own almost indefinitely, but will be hard-pressed to score a hit."

Raven nodded, taking it all in. She didn't know a lot about Soresu or those who excelled in it. Her chosen form was Ataru, and it would appear that it was the form that Eeth Koth had chosen to master also. Raven was unwilling to take her eyes off the fight. Thus, she had no idea how much time had passed. Thankfully for them both, Orion did…

The boy glanced at his chronometer and flinched. "Force, we gotta go!" he exclaimed. He made to grab Raven by the sleeve but at that moment, his comlink buzzed. He pulled it out, checked it and grimaced. "Sith," he said. "I told Master Deleon I'd probably be back around one. He just wrote me to meet him at the entrance of the main dining hall in fifteen minutes." He thought quickly. "There's no way I can make it there in time if we go to the creche first and have you change out of my uniform," he finally said. "Besides, I'd have to drop the uniform off in our quarters before I meet my master because I have no idea how I'd explain it to him. I'll try to meet you tomorrow and you can give it back to me then, alright? C'mon, we can go to the Room of a Thousand Fountains together. We'll have to split up then."

He was already ushering her toward the exit of the gym as he talked.

"Hey, don't stress, we got this. You'll make it if we don't dawdle," Raven encouraged him as they practically ran from the gym and headed towards the Room of a Thousand Fountains. The further they got from the fight, the less Raven felt the urge to watch it. That said, she now had a strange hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. It wasn't a terrible feeling, not at all, it was just a bit sad, like her heart had missed lunch! That had been strange. There was no time to explain any of this to Orion either since the boy had just enough time to make it as it was. She called her thanks to his retreating back and sat behind one of the fountains where she would be concealed from sight and anyone who was not actively seeking her out.

* * *

"Hello, padawan," Master Deleon said neutrally, several hours later, looking up from his datapad. "You're home late."

"Umm, yeah," Orion stammered, feeling quite nervous. He had not been in real trouble with his master so far and he had not exactly been keen on finding out how the man dealt with it. Unfortunately, tonight – the same Saturday that he had taken Raven to the gyms – his luck had left him. He had gone to the padawans' lounge and had met some new padawans with whom he had made friends. This had caused him to completely forget the time with the result that he now was more than an hour late. Which was a no-go, he knew. A few minutes were forgivable. More than an hour was not.

"You could have called me," he said in a small voice. "I would have come right away."

"I had no reason to call you," said Deleon calmly. "You do have a chronometer. And I wanted to find out whether you were going to come home on your own eventually."

"Of course I was going to!" Orion protested. "I didn't mean to be late. I just… lost track of time."

The end of all this was, just as Orion had feared, a stern scolding and a stinging bottom, both of which left him suitably chastened. On top of all this, Deleon grounded him for a week and assigned him a heap of additional chores. Orion dared not object; that would accomplish nothing and just make matters worse. The spanking had not been the worst he had ever received, after all, but he was sure that it could be "improved" upon if he annoyed Deleon sufficiently which he had no intention of doing.

Since his master did not even allow him to make a comm call which was, apparently, counted as "socialising" and thus forbidden while he was grounded, Orion's only option was to write Raven a message.

"Hi Raven," it said. "I'm sorry but I managed to get myself grounded. I won't have time to meet before next Sunday. Look after my uniform for me and don't do anything stupid. No need to follow my 'great example.' Hope to see you next Sunday! Orion."

Raven did as Orion asked and kept the uniform safely hidden under her mattress. Yes, yes, it was a rookie hiding spot, but when you did not have access to anything worth hiding, your superiors tended not to check. As the week drew on, though, Raven found herself more and more often replaying the fight she'd seen on their illicit excursion to the gym…

* * *

Three days later, Raven sat on the single bunk that she had called her own for the last three years and pulled out her datapad. It was just past lunchtime on Wednesday which meant that her creche group had half an hour of quiet time. This could be spent either meditating on their connection to the Force or, in Raven's case today, daydreaming about the fight she had seen with Orion. It was then that a thought occurred to her and her eyes opened. She peeled back her mattress and peered under it at the neatly folded (now solidly pressed) square of fabric that was Orion's uniform. Who would know if she used the disguise again and went back to the gym? Nobody! The mattress was quickly dropped, and Raven was back on her bed when master Lowfac walked by. If she was going to pull this off on her own, she would need to be smart about it.

Raven waited until Thursday's mid-afternoon free period and then asked her creche master if she could go for a walk in the gardens. Her request was granted as it was not unusual; Raven often asked to go to the gardens since it gave her a chance to 'talk' to some of the critters she found there. She had Orion's uniform stuffed in the pack that she carried. As they had done last time, once past the creche entrance, she found the nearest refresher and changed before anyone could question her unsupervised presence. She sat cross-legged on the closed refresher seat, doing her 'padawan's braid' for the second time that week, and had to admit that it felt right, even if she was only pretending. She taped up her hems and gave herself a once-over before leaving. Wow, she looked like a real padawan, albeit a small one. It made her smile, and that smile only grew as she located the gym Orion had taken her to last time and found a spot to watch.

An hour passed by in which Raven had made her way around the gallery surrounding the gym. Nothing had struck her as it had last time. Sure, it was awesome to watch the masters, and in some cases master-and-padawan teams, spar, but not like it had been last time. Maybe it was the thrill of having her best friend to share it with? Before she could leave, though, something had her stop. Raven stepped closer to the rail that separated the gallery from the gym floor and recognised Eeth Koth entering at the far side, flanked by several padawans of various species and ages. She blinked in surprise. This must be one of the open sparring sessions that Orion had been telling her about! The girl looked down at her padawan's attire and crudely tied padawan's braid; she was so doing this!

Eeth shrugged out of his cloak and handed a datapad to the nearest padawan, asking her to register her name. They still had six minutes until the official start of the session. The general rule was that any padawan could take part in the open sparring classes. However, Eeth, in particular, required that their masters had to clear their padawans for his classes because he was teaching advanced aerial sequences that some padawans might not be allowed to attempt without their masters present. Anyone not cleared for his class who entered their name would garner an alert. Anyone who arrived late would, of course, not even be allowed to register. Eeth had no patience with tardiness whatsoever!

He had to admit that he quite enjoyed being back to teaching. After his padawan, Lakhri Tumuel, had been knighted seven years ago, he had spent several years on long-term missions and had not been at the Temple much. One year ago, he had been appointed to the Jedi High Council and was thus expected to stay at the Temple for extended periods of time. He used much of that time for working with the Senate and quite a bit of the rest for teaching. And his classes were quite popular, at least with the more ambitious students. He was known to be an extremely strict and demanding teacher but also a committed one who made a real effort to help his students improve their skills. Therefore, around a dozen padawans, aged between ten and about sixteen, were assembling around him now, taking turns at registering their names on the datapad.

Never having attended one of these classes for real, Raven did as she would have done in the creche; namely, she stood in what she hoped was a developing line and waited to be told what to do. When the datapad was handed to her and she noticed the list of names, her heart skipped a beat. Putting down her own name was going to immortalise her guilt! And recording nothing at all would surely be noticed. So, she took the stylus and scratched the name: 'Ithan Kord'. Ithan Kord had been taken as a padawan about six months ago. She was a human female and that ought to be precaution enough. Raven stood tall, adjusted the wide-waisted pants into her belt for the second time and rested a hand on her training saber. This was going to be awesome!

Unfortunately for Raven, Ithan Kord had not been cleared to take part in Eeth's sessions yet. Besides, Eeth had been present at the Council session in which Ithan had been made a padawan and he vaguely remembered what she looked like. When the datapad alerted him to an unauthorised registration, he looked at it, then looked at the group of padawans, back at the datapad, and frowned. None of the padawans in this group was Ithan Kord but obviously one of them had entered her name.

"Which one of you is Ithan Kord?" he asked in a perfectly neutral tone of voice. He intended to get to the bottom of this!

Raven froze, the question having taken her off guard. She looked left, right and then behind her, but of course, nobody spoke up. Not wanting to look guilty lest this be a simple formality, Raven raised her hand.

Eeth folded his arms across his chest and looked the girl over. Perceptive as he was, he immediately noticed that her uniform was too large for her small frame and her braid was inexpertly done. He also noticed something else; a strange feeling niggling at the margins of his Force awareness. He had sensed it this clearly only once before, when he had run into Lakhri eighteen years ago.

His face not betraying any of his thoughts, he asked neutrally: "And what are you really called – initiate?"

Initiate? Initiate! Now how the Force had he deduced that! Raven chewed on her bottom lip but only for a second, and then her chin came up; if she were busted it was best to go down with dignity. "I'm called Raven," she answered him honestly. At that moment, it felt like the entire gym had stopped what they were doing and started staring at her.

"Very well, Initiate Raven," Eeth said, stony-faced. "Join me for a moment. The rest of you, wait here and leave your sabers deactivated."

He beckoned Raven into one of the few small rooms adjacent to the gym that gave teachers the opportunity to prepare their lessons, take notes afterwards or talk to students individually. Once they were inside, Eeth handed Raven his comlink and said brusquely: "Kindly call your creche master. Tell him or her where you are and that I will require some more of your time."

Raven accepted Eeth's comlink, but did not immediately make the call. Instead, she just stared at him, mouth slightly agape. If she called her creche master, he was going to be seriously displeased, and that was something that Raven tried to avoid, however unsuccessful she had been at that this time… It briefly occurred to her to mention that Lowfac knew where she was, yet she dismissed the idea just as quickly; if Eeth was perceptive enough to notice she wasn't who she claimed, further bullshit was probably only going to be detrimental to her situation. Reluctantly, Raven punched in her creche master's comm code and waited.

The conversation that followed was as she expected, that being, incriminating and guilt-inducing, but worse was his disappointment over the fact that she had deceived him. After the call had ended, the initiate handed back the comlink without meeting Eeth's gaze. Lowfac had granted Eeth an hour with her and would send an aide to escort her back. Apparently, he did not trust that she could make it back to the creche without wandering off which, had Raven not felt so guilty, she would have been indignant over.

When Raven was done, Eeth pocketed the comlink and pulled out the paddle that he kept tucked into his belt whenever he was teaching. "Bend over and touch your toes," he ordered.

For the second time that day, Raven was surprised by the man standing before her. Did he just pull a spanking paddle from his belt? Force. The eleven-year-old was no stranger to corporal punishment, especially as her personality made it hard for her to accept authority and follow the rules, but her regular teachers usually did a bit more talking before they started spanking. For once, she was lost for words. That left her with only one option, and so she reluctantly turned side-on and put her hands on her toes. How bad could it be? She had kept her trousers, after all. Surely he was just going to give her a few taps and send her to wait for the aide.

Eeth was not in the habit of meting out mere taps, though, and he was certainly not going to make an exception for an initiate who had broken the rules and been deceitful in order to gain privileges she had no right to. Given that there were a dozen padawans waiting for him to start his class, he made short work of this punishment, bringing the paddle down half a dozen times fast and with considerable force.

It was all Raven could do not to spring up and start jumping around. She didn't, though. Instead, she let out a yelp of pain with each whack.

Despite the fact that the girl was wearing rather loose-fitting pants, the swats rang off the walls. Had she been in Eeth's charge, he would have given her more but he assumed her creche master would see to that. When he had completed the half dozen, he stuck the paddle back into his belt, waiting for her to straighten up.

Okay, so that had fucking hurt. The initiate was certain she was going to feel that for the next few hours at the very least. Both hands flew to her backside and she hopped from foot to foot, doing her best to rub out the burn. Raven wasn't crying, but her eyes were over-bright and she was far from pleased.

Paying her antics no mind, Eeth laid a datapad onto the small desk. "You will sit down now," he ordered. "And I know that will hurt so there is no need to point it out. Write down your full name, your creche master's full name, and the name of the padawan who lent you their uniform. I also want you to put down an explanation of why you tried to masquerade as a padawan and enrol in my open sparring class. I will pick up the datapad when I am done teaching my class."

He gave her a curt nod and left the room to tend to his students. There would be time later to analyse the connection he felt to the girl through the Force. But first he had duties to perform. And Eeth took his duties seriously.

Right now, Raven's connection to Eeth was entirely of the paddle-to-ass kind. Her ass hurt, deserved though it may be. Having been stripped of all her arguments before having a chance to spout any, she pouted at his retreating back and lowered herself into the chair. At least it had a cushioned seat, small mercies!

For a while, she just stared at the datapad, unsure what to write. The audacity of the guy, assuming that she didn't have the wherewithal to procure a padawan's uniform without help from a padawan! She huffed, her back straightening, only to wince and curl again. The burn was starting to ebb now, despite the fact that she had felt as if she would never sit again less than two minutes ago.

Raven began by inputting her and Lowfac's names on the top of the pad. That was easy. The rest, that wasn't so easy. Raven spent the next hour – which was how long this class lasted and how long her creche master had given her with Eeth – trying to come up with a way to spare Orion further trouble while putting into words why she had wanted to do this in the first place. Why had she? It was almost impossible to say without admitting that this was not the first time she had ventured out, nor the first time she had watched Eeth. Eventually, she decided on a version of the truth that explained how she had been curious about the Temple and felt drawn to join his class. She finished by stating that as a Jedi she was supposed to protect the rights of her sources, and therefore, was honour bound to preserve the anonymity of the supplier of her disguise. If she could spare Orion through this loophole, it was worth a try.

Anybody who had dealt with Eeth before could have told her that it wasn't, especially Lakhri who had tried the same thing once, early into his padawanhood, with disastrous consequences. Eeth had improved his people skills ever so slightly since then, though, which was why he did not pull out the paddle straight away after having read Raven's evasive confession. He did, however, level her with a look that was as stern as it could get.

"You did not see fit to fully comply with my instructions," he said in an even tone of voice that could not deceive anyone over the fact that he was seriously displeased. "Now, I am going to ask you one question. Did you receive this uniform from a padawan who knew full well that you are an initiate and would use it to illegally explore parts of the Temple that are off limits to you? A simple 'yes' or 'no' will suffice as an answer."

Eeth was certainly an imposing, and some might argue frightening, figure, but Raven was not easily intimidated. She was small, but she was also confident and strong-willed. Her chin came up and she straightened, hefting up her trousers. It was on the tip of her tongue to inform him that such information was classified, yet something in the way he looked, no, in the way he felt through the Force told her that this would be a very bad idea. Thus, she replied with a "Yes" that came out sounding far meeker than anticipated.

Eeth had to concede that this initiate was certainly pluckier than the average. That was not going to save her from the consequences of her attempt at deception, though.

"In that case, he or she broke the rules and knew full well what to expect, should you be found out," Eeth said curtly. "Write down their name, and do it now – unless you are ready to be paddled until you see fit to comply with my instructions."

Well, those were not very good options; tattle on Orion or be paddled until she did. Her jaw squared, but again, instead of hitting him with creative arguments, as she may have, had this been another Jedi, Raven acquiesced and accepted the datapad.

The creche aide chose that moment to enter the gym. She made her way to the small room in which Raven and Eeth were talking, pleased to discover that the girl appeared to be doing as asked sans protests. Then again, Raven tended not to argue if she was blatantly caught out. Besides, being busted outside of the creche grounds and impersonating a padawan was pretty condemning to any case she might want to mount in her defence.

She scratched Orion's name on the pad, her expression clearly displeased. "For the record, I think it's unfair that you force me to tattle," she said, holding the pad up for Eeth to take and hitting him with her most intimidating glare. Raven knew that Orion would not have expected her to do differently, and he certainly wouldn't hold this against her, but that wasn't the point!

Eeth did not particularly care whether Raven thought this fair or not, nor was he likely to be intimidated by any kind of glare an initiate might point at him. He acknowledged the creche aide's entrance with a nod, accepted the datapad and glanced at it.

"Alright," he said. "How many times have you done this so far?" He was not only perceptive but also quite a fast thinker, and he did have a bit of experience with children and teenagers by now.

By this point, Raven's hopes of getting out of this without having to make a full confession were starting to dwindle. "Just the once," she lied to the floor and folded her arms. Raven was not crazy, and she would have to be not to at least attempt getting out of that one. Besides, there was no way anyone could prove anything. Yeah, no way other than her creche master's infamous interrogations. The girl groaned internally at the thought; he never gave up until he had the full story and he could outlast the stubbornest of initiates.

With Eeth on Raven's tail, there was no need for her creche master, though. He could nearly always tell when someone was lying. It would need more than the skills of an eleven-year-old initiate to deceive him.

"And if I called this padawan Orion now and asked him," he said coolly, "are you sure that he would give me the same answer?"

Had Eeth asked that question just two weeks ago, Raven would have taken her chances and said yes. Now that Orion was a padawan, though, he seemed to be a lot more cautious which had her rethinking that reply. Everyone knew that any Force-willed master-and-padawan team shared a special connection that was created over their training bond; Orion might not be able to lie convincingly to Deleon even if he wanted to. She looked up at Eeth, and for a moment felt – something? It was the same feeling she had had when watching Eeth spar with Saesee Tiin and the same feeling that had urged her to join his class. The girl huffed, resigned. "Probably not," she confessed and managed to meet his gaze again. "But why do you care?" It was an honest question, and one Raven was curious to know the answer to. Did he have this feeling inside him, too? Was that what was pushing him to ask more questions than usual? Or maybe he was ultra diligent? Nosy? All of the above?

"That," Eeth said cuttingly, "is none of your concern right now." Yes, it was probably all of the above. He would never have accepted anything less than the truth from any initiate or padawan he was dealing with, nor would he risk letting them get away with misbehaviour. In this case, it was more than that, though. He was entirely aware of the connection he felt to the girl and where it might lead to. And although he was wary of being too rash about this, he felt a particular obligation to teach Initiate Raven Trebeck what was expected of her, as a young Jedi – and one who might be a padawan soon.

He turned towards the creche aide and asked politely: "Could you give us five more minutes?" The woman nodded in understanding and withdrew from the room. Eeth was now free to focus on Raven. He fixed her with a penetrating look.

"I want the truth, all of it. And I want it now," he said abruptly. In order to discourage any attempt at stalling or evasiveness, he pulled the paddle from his belt, folded his arms across his chest and tapped the paddle against his left upper arm impatiently, the implication clear.

Raven wanted an answer to her question, and she was about to say as much when he produced his paddle. All right, apparently she had two choices, neither of which were appealing. Confessing to the fact that this was her second ramble out of bounds seemed like the less painful path, though. Besides, what else could she do? Refusal would only get her paddled until she complied.

Reluctantly, she began telling Eeth the story of how she had convinced Orion to help her. How she had seen him sparring with Saesee Tiin that day in the gym, and how she had felt about it over the days that followed. She was also very clear about the fact that Orion did not know about this second jaunt… "He even warned me not to do anything stupid," she told him, not that she considered her venture outside of creche to be stupid. No, getting caught was the stupid part! I just wanted to see again, is all," was said in way of conclusion. Raven felt kind of stupid explaining all that; he must think her a complete lunatic. However, what was more surprising was the fact that she actually really cared what this Jedi, a complete stranger, thought about her.

Eeth was not as surprised at her explanation as he might have been. It only confirmed the feeling he had about the girl, after all. But he was not about to jump to conclusions and create facts that the girl might later regret. He would think about this carefully when he had time. For now, he merely said: "Thank you for finally being honest. I expect you to grant the same courtesy to your creche master. For now, I am going to teach you to think long and hard before you try lying to a Jedi master again. Once again, bend over and touch your toes. And pull down your pants before you do."

Just when Raven thought the interrogation was over with, things took a turn for the worse, and her courage followed suit. Both hands slid back to cover her backside, her once brave expression now looking decidedly more piteous. "Uh, but wait! Not again, you already paddled me once." It had hurt, too. Granted, it had not been the smackdown of the century, but that didn't mean she wanted another one. "Twice isn't fair," was added on in a last-ditch effort at saving her backside.

"The first paddling was for trying to deceive me in order to get into my class," Eeth replied, stony-faced. "After that, you chose to lie to me again. For this, you will be punished again. This is entirely fair, and it is not open for debate. You just raised the count from six to nine. If you are not in position in ten seconds, I will make it twelve."

"Awwwww!" Raven whined, jumping around on the spot to emphasise her displeasure. Thankfully for her, though, her fingers were working the clasp on her belt as she did this. It did not take much, and once the belt was off, the oversized trousers fell to her ankles in a pile without any effort on her part. The burn from the last six had only just faded, so the idea of copping another nine on top was horrifying. Still, Raven wanted the count raised to twelve even less. Therefore, she bent over and put both hands on her boots for the second time this afternoon.

Eeth was not famous for his willingness to cut students any slack. True to his reputation, the paddling he dealt out now was quite formidable. Raven would probably be able to stay in position, but only just, and only if she possessed a bit of self-control. Which Eeth was interested in finding out. After all, the girl seemed to be quite young, possibly too young to be considered as a padawan. As that thought crossed his mind, Eeth wondered fleetingly whether he was hoping for this to be the case – or the opposite. All in all, raising Lakhri had been a daunting but also a very rewarding experience; Eeth was truly proud of the Jedi knight Lakhri had become. At the same time, up to this day, he was struggling with feelings of guilt over having been too harsh on Lakhri, especially during the first year of the boy's padawanhood. He was not sure he had it in himself to behave any differently, though. If he didn't, it would be all the more important to see how this girl, Raven, dealt with his approach. And he was currently doing his best to give her a realistic impression of that approach!

Given that her backside was somewhat pre-tenderised, Raven had hopes that he would not swat her quite as hard as he had earlier. These thoughts were blown clean out the waste hatch when the first few landed with no less force and at the same speed as earlier. It fucking hurt, and as before, by the sixth smack Raven had tears in her eyes. She let out a wail at the seventh, the eight saw her hands rise to her knees, and the final swat of that Force-awful paddle had the tears spilling over. It took all of her willpower not to jump up, but if what she deduced of Eeth Koth so far was anything to go by, obedience was key in sparing herself further pain.

Unfazed, Eeth stuck the paddle back into his belt. So the girl did have some self-control. Good.

"You may get up now," he told her, his face and tone of voice quite emotionless.

Raven did not need to be told twice. She jumped up and started rubbing furiously at her underwear-clad behind. It burned something fierce, and again she hopped from foot to foot in the hopes that the motion would somehow lessen the pain, or at the very least, knock it down to her feet! She swiped a sleeve across her eyes briefly and buried her face in her tunic sleeve; she didn't want Eeth knowing he had brought her to tears even if it was blatantly obvious that he had done just that.

Of course, Raven needn't have bothered; Eeth was quite used to seeing tears in those he had punished. The punishments he dealt out were usually designed to make sure of that.

"Now go back to the creche and tell your creche master what happened," he said. "Completely and truthfully. And return the uniform to Padawan Orion, whose master will be informed of this whole affair tonight. You might want to give him a chance to own up before that. May the Force be with you, initiate."

He was going to have a talk with Raven's creche master later, which was going to give him an opportunity to make sure that Raven had complied with his instructions. But that was not going to be the only purpose of that talk. In any case, Raven did not need to know this, for now.

For all of Raven's faults, she was not a disrespectful child. So it was because of that, and despite her discomfort and dislike for his parting instructions, she managed a curt bow and left without complaint.

The creche aide was waiting outside the room and took in her red-rimmed eyes and dishevelled uniform with a knowing expression. "Fix your clothing properly. You do not want to walk the halls looking like a vagabond, now, do you?" the woman said, but there was no bite to her words. She knelt, started helping the girl tuck the oversized pants into her belt properly and dusted her off. "Good as new?"

Raven managed a weak smile. She wasn't the sort to need coddling, but she liked this creche aide. The human woman was a new knight, maybe only knighted a few months ago. Nobody knew the story of why she was not out in active field service. Well, now was certainly not the time to start asking questions about that. The entire way home, all Raven could think about was how she was going to break the news to Orion, and the feeling she had experienced when Eeth Koth had entered the training room that day. Had it been the right thing to do to tell him about that? Her heart said yes, but the lingering burn across her backside disagreed for the moment.

That evening, Raven lay on her bed, skimming through the additional classwork Lowfac had assigned thanks to her illicit 'outing.' Fortunately for her, he had considered the fifteen swats Eeth meted out to be sufficient physical punishment for an eleven-year-old, and much to Raven's great relief had not added to it. She sat up when he came to tuck her in that night. It was too early, but he had taken half an hour off her bedtime for the next week; apparently, the less free time Raven had, the less trouble she found herself in, or so he had joked. Raven groaned, but lay back and let him tuck in the sheets around her. "It's onlyyyy eiigghhttt."

"Iiii knowwww," he copied her whining, but his eyes were smiling. "Better remember this the next time you try swindling your way around the rules. They are there for a reason, you know."

Raven huffed, a tuft of blonde fringe blowing up with the effort.

Lowfac brushed it off her face and closed his eyes. Lately, he had felt Raven needed more of his attention, yet he was struggling to spread himself thin enough. It was a common problem in the senior creche as all the students were nearing that point where they really needed a master to take over. "Link with me, let me help you," he told her.

Raven did so without hesitation, bombarding him with all her pent-up thoughts, feelings, emotions and whatever else was in there. It was nice to have this sort of help and she told him as much before he turned out her lamp. "Thanks. Maybe going to bed early isn't so bad, if just for tonight," she said through a yawn and rolled over. Today had been a memorable day.

Later that evening, while Raven was already fast asleep, Jedi master Eeth Koth was sitting on his small balcony, staring into the distance, deep in thought. He was sure of the connection he had felt with the girl through the Force, and having raised a padawan before, he knew what it meant. But the girl was so tiny! Rationally, he knew by now that she was eleven years old and therefore by no means too young to be taken as a padawan. This afternoon, he had talked to her creche master and studied her file; he had all the information he could wish for. And still, he was hesitant to move forward with this. He was also entirely aware that he had no good reason for this hesitation. If he was honest with himself, which he usually tried to be, he knew that the excuses he had thought up were nothing more than flimsy attempts at justifying a deep-seated feeling of insecurity that he kept well-hidden from anyone but himself. He had been an awful master to Lakhri at the outset. His former padawan had told him once that he held no grudge but Eeth was not sure whether he could trust that statement. More importantly, he was not sure whether he could trust himself. It was not so much the fact that he was an extremely strict master that worried him; it was more that he was finding it incredibly hard to provide emotional support and to create intimate connections with others. He was well aware that children needed both. What if he could not satisfy that need? Maybe Raven would be better off waiting for a different master? But what about the connection they had both felt to each other? If the Force guided her to him so clearly, it must be for a reason. Eeth had allowed the Force to guide him throughout all his life. It had saved him during the initial years of his life on Nar Shaddaa and it had always been his refuge. He was not about to dismiss anything that he sensed in the Force to be right.

With an internal sigh, Eeth decided that there was nothing for it: he would need to create more opportunities to meet with Raven and explore her potential for becoming his padawan. He felt he ought to give her a chance to get to know him. Only when she really knew what she was getting herself into should she be asked to make a commitment that would have a profound impact on the next twelve to fourteen years of her life. Raven was only eleven years old, after all; there was still plenty of time.


	2. Chapter 2

"I want to offer an advanced sparring class for senior initiates," Eeth told Master Tue Wa Din who was in charge of the initiates' training schedule. "Specifically, for those who are particularly gifted with a saber and do not find their lightsaber classes challenging enough. Six participants, at most. Twelve sessions, twice a week, for the rest of the cycle. I would like to start next week."

Tue Wa Din raised her tentacles in thought. Teaching such classes was not an unusual concept, as such, but normally she had to talk high-ranking Jedi into making room in their busy schedules for doing so. She had rarely had one of them offer it to her of their own accord.

"Any particular reason for making that offer now?" she asked.

"Yes," Eeth replied bluntly. "I have an interest in one particular initiate. If the reports I have read are correct, that child is bound to be included in such a class."

"I see," said Tue Wa Din. She did not inquire further. Eeth Koth was the type who knew what he was doing. He was also dutiful enough to teach the class till the end, no matter what came out of his interest in that one particular padawan.

"I will schedule your class for Tuesdays and Fridays, then," she said after having checked training schedules for a moment. "I will send you the details as soon as I have cleared them with the creche masters and selected the students. You are certain that the child you are interested in will be included? Or would you rather make sure?"

"I am certain," said Eeth calmly. This was not only consistent with what Raven's file and her creche master had told him but also with the instinct he had about her. This one was a fighter. She was also a fairly strong-willed, at times disobedient, child, and she did seem to possess a temper. Academics were not her strong suit. All that could be dealt with, though – if his intuitions turned out to be correct.

* * *

Tue Wa Din spent a lot of time thinking about who to select for this class. If Eeth Koth was so sure that the initiate he was thinking of would be in it, it could only be one of four persons.

The first who came to mind was Rayan Haysh, a twelve-year-old human who was extremely strong in the Force. Unfortunately, he was known to have aggression issues and he tended to display an amount of arrogance that was unbecoming to a Jedi. Maybe it was for that reason that the Force had not led him to a master yet, a fact that was making him increasingly restless.

The second on Tue's list was Raven Trebeck, an eleven-year-old human who, despite her lithe frame, was confident and fearless. Her attacks were known to be lightning-fast and she was diligent and ambitious in her training, much in contrast to her academic classes. She was sometimes too independent and strong-willed for her own good. Tue caught herself thinking that working with Eeth, who was famous for his no-nonsense approach, might do her good.

Then there was Barnis Kaash, a Zabrak whirlwind who was even faster than Raven but also less precise. He had a highly developed sense of the Force and a lot of courage but he needed to work more on his physical skills; he was the type to end up in the healers' wing for trying an aerial move that was beyond his capacity to perform.

Number four on the list was Chinda Neyamalin, a graceful Twi'lek whose greatest asset was her control. She always kept a cool head, never allowed her opponents to provoke her and was highly intelligent and perceptive. She could use to be a bit more daring and creative in her strategies, though.

All of these initiates were clearly beyond their peers with respect to their saber skills, and all of them would benefit greatly from Eeth's guidance – each for different reasons. Looking at these four names, Tue wondered for a moment whether to close the list here. After all, Eeth had not asked to be assigned exactly six students but had merely said that was the maximum number he was going to teach. However, after giving the matter some thought, Tue decided to complete the half dozen. If she left the number at four, the class might become to small whenever one of the students fell ill or was otherwise unable to attend. Besides, being included in such a small number of chosen initiates might give those four students a false sense of superiority.

She finally settled on two initiates who were less exceptional than the other four at sparring but also easier to handle. Worik Ackang was a Mon Calamari, extremely strong in the Force and therefore hard to beat. He could be a brilliant fighter if he showed more ambition; but his real interests lay elsewhere, in politics and diplomacy. Maybe the class with Eeth would motivate him to work harder on his sparring skills. Shelya Eliade, an Ishi Tib, was a superb defensive fighter but had little interest in offensive techniques. No matter what form she would specialise in, though, she would need to learn more about winning fights, as opposed to merely outlasting her opponents. Eeth's attack-oriented style would be good for her.

Having thus completed the list, Tue nodded in satisfaction. She notified the creche masters of the class's participants and schedule. Then she sent each of the initiates a message, informing them that as of next Tuesday, 3 pm, they were going to take part in an advanced sparring class, taught by Jedi master Eeth Koth…

* * *

"Advanced lightsaber techniques and strategy: 3 pm. Gym 8K. Master Eeth Koth." Raven read the message that scrolled across the datapad. Her initial reaction was disbelief. Surely there had to be some mistake? Eeth Koth did not typically teach creche, at least not in the last few years, as far as she could remember. Again, she slid a finger across the screen to view the class booking. Yep, it was definitely there, right in the beginning of next week's block of classes. She looked around at her fellow creche mates who were also perusing their timetables, but none of them wore the same expression as she. And sure enough, when she compared schedules none of them had Eeth Koth's class. Most were in awe, but some of the more timid ones of her peers looked relieved.

That evening, when Lowfac came to tuck her in, Raven was uncharacteristically placid. Typically, getting her to bed on time was a chore, let alone enforcing it half an hour early. He sat on her bed, his weight depressing the mattress and causing her to flop into his side.

Raven chuckled, some of her typical playfulness resurfacing. It might have been meant as a punishment, but these 'early bedtimes' had become something she looked forward to. Lowfac would meditate with her, and then afterwards they would talk for a little about some of the things that were running through her mind. Tonight was no exception.

Naturally, Lowfac had a copy of all his students' timetables, so when Raven produced her pad and showed him the class, he was not exactly shocked. Upon reading that same announcement earlier, he had known that this was probably going to be one of the last nights he would have to spend teaching this particular initiate, and he wanted to spend that time preparing her for the transition into padawanhood without actually making it obvious. No easy feat…

* * *

Two days later, Eeth entered a medium-sized practice room to find six youngsters already assembled there. They were trying to conceal their nervousness with varying degrees of success. Eeth was used to students being nervous around him. He was well aware that his reputation had preceded him.

And it certainly had. Given that these students were all from creche, they had arrived early enough to settle in … settle into a lot of conversation and speculation over what this class would be like, and what training with Eeth Koth would be like! Each initiate had their own opinion. Rayan thought it was only fitting that he was here; he was the strongest in his age group and the best with a saber. "Of course he picked me, what's not to love?" he said, drawing an eye roll from Chinda and a smirk from Shelya.

Worik seemed unfazed by the whole thing. Sure, he would rather be in diplomacy right now, but an opportunity to train with Eeth Koth was not to be sneezed at.

Raven had her opinions, too, most of which she wasn't keen to share. After all, how bad would it sound to admit that she hoped she had been chosen for this class, that Eeth had chosen her because he, too, felt something pulling at him, willing him to create circumstances in which they might meet? Arrogant much?! Instead, she settled on stating that she was pretty awesome with a saber, and she hoped that the class wasn't going to be a bore like the last few she'd taken.

Barnis agreed with her. He was fast and he was good, very good. Most of his classes were a complete bore and he hoped for a challenge.

When Eeth approached, the group fell silent, their chatter going from a low hum to dead silence in a heartbeat.

Eeth stood in front of the group, folded his arms across his chest and fixed each initiate in turn with a scrutinising look. The gym was so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop.

Finally, Eeth started to speak. "Good afternoon," he said. "I am Jedi master Eeth Koth, and I am going to work with you on your sparring skills. Before we start, let me make my expectations clear so there will be no misunderstandings. I expect all of you to give your best effort. I will not tolerate tardiness, laziness, fooling around, distractions, disruptions, disobedience or any kind of disrespect in my class. In short, you would be well-advised to be on your very best behaviour. If you are not, you will have to suffer the consequences. In return, I promise you that I will make every effort to help each of you to make the most of his or her sparring skills."

He did not bother calling up the class roster. There were only six students in this class, after all, from five different species. He had known their names in advance and it was not hard to tell who was who. Instead of wasting time on this, he ordered them to run laps around the gym - forwards, backwards, sidewards rotating their arms, skipping and so forth. While the initiates struggled to comply with his evermore demanding instructions, Eeth barked at Chinda for being too slow and at Worik for not applying himself properly. That got everyone going. Eeth was efficient like that.

When all of them were panting and starting to sweat – even Rayan, who seemed to be rather annoyed about it – Eeth had them stop. Without losing a beat, he ordered: "Everyone grab a droid, set them to level 3, attack only, spread over the room and defend yourselves. Five minutes. What are you waiting for?"

Shelya looked down her beak at Chinda, the Twi'lek being a head shorter than she was, and then up at Eeth, who dwarfed the lot of them. When the two looked back at the other four in their class, however, they were already pulling droids from the wall closet where such things were stored. What were they waiting for? Neither girl knew, so they turned and ran to catch up with the others.

Raven dialled her droid to the requested level, and then she looked around the room to see what the others were doing. She had not used level three for a while now. Still, she gave it her all, incorporating all her best, most practised of moves despite it being somewhat of an overkill. How else would working on a level three setting be any fun?

Rayan, too, was giving this his all. He was less about fun and more about impressing Eeth with his prowess. He was the best, and that needed to come across from the get-go.

Eeth walked among the initiates as they deflected bolts, not seeming to pay them any mind. As a matter of fact, he was monitoring them closely through the Force. He was registering every detail of their performance: their speed, their precision, their willingness to apply themselves to an exercise that they had doubtlessly practiced for years. They were all good, as was to be expected. Rayan was giving his best to impress him. He was wearing an air of superiority, as if he was the only one in this class worth teaching. Which was not actually true. Raven and Barnis, in particular, were faster with their sabers than Rayan. Barnis was too sloppy, though. Eeth quietly admonished him to pay better attention to what he was doing. This was not an issue with the other three; they were calm, diligent and precise.

Eeth's Force awareness also told him that Raven, although rather good at what she was doing, could use some improvement to her stance; and that she was employing quite a few moves that were not usually taught to initiates, which explained the rather impractical way she held her lightsaber. He stored this information, together with his observations on the other initiates, in the back of his mind, determined to make use of them later.

When the five minutes were over, he clapped his hands and called his students together.

"Right," he said. "We are going to focus on defensive moves today. You two – and you two – and you two, pair up. One of you attacks only, the other one blocks. After five minutes, you switch roles. I will be going from pair to pair and working with each of you individually as the lesson progresses."

He hoped that the mere fact of getting to spar against a challenging opponent for a change would keep the initiates interested until it was their turn to work with him. He also knew that at least one of them was likely to get into trouble before the lesson was over, and he intended to deal with that the way he always dealt with these things – very firmly. He thought it advisable to leave no ambiguities about his expectations from the outset.

"What do you make of Eeth Koth?" Worik whispered to the small, human girl he'd been paired with.

"He's tough, although I already knew that," Raven replied while adopting a ready stance. When Worik gave her a 'how so?' kind of expression, she paused to elaborate. "I attended his freestyle sparring session in the main gym." Naturally, Raven left out the fact that this had been an unauthorised excursion to a class which she had not been cleared to attend! Mere semantics.

Worik's eyes bulged even more, if such a thing were possible for a Mon Calamari. "How did you get access to that!?" He really wanted to know. Had they changed the rules? Was he missing out!?

Before Raven could answer that, Eeth had stepped up behind Worik and clamped a hand around his shoulder.

"I believe I told you to practice defensive moves," he said icily. "This is an advanced sparring class, not an opportunity to socialise. If I hear another word out of either of you, you will have to complete this lesson with a sore bottom."

Now where had he come from? Raven thought in consternation. Sure, she was wary of his warning, but she was equally indignant that he had managed to get the drop on them; the last time she had looked, Eeth had not been paying attention, or so she had thought.

Worik didn't care _how_ he'd been busted, just that he _had_ been busted. "Sorry," he replied and ignited his saber; apparently they weren't going to get away with anything in this class. Oh well, at least he had pulled the runt of their group; he planned to make short work of this match.

Rayan, in the meantime, was hell-bent on getting through Shelya's defences. It proved impossible, though, which annoyed him to no end. He was meant to ace this class! The sight of Chinda, who coolly and competently overpowered Barnis's lacklustre attempts at blocking her, only increased his frustration.

Again, Eeth walked around for a few minutes, not seeming to pay much attention to the initiates but following them closely through the Force. For the moment, he did not intervene. He was going to work with each of them and give them advice when he had pegged down their strengths and weaknesses.

Raven was busy disabusing Worik of his assumptions that this was going to be easy for him. Small she might be, but that was where it ended. Raven was a fighter, and she gave this the same effort she gave to all athletic pursuits, namely, when it came to her turn to attack, she kicked his ass from one end of the gym to the other. Granted, he held his own, but Raven was better at this than he was. Two minutes later, Raven had forced the boy towards the edge of the mats where she sprang off the wall and over his head to place the tip of her training saber a centimetre from his neck. It was the same technique she had seen Eeth perform that first day in the main gym. Handy. "Good defending," she said, deactivating her saber and extending her hand as a gesture of sportsmanship.

Worik took her hand and returned the smile. By no means was he a sore loser, and like Raven, he was enjoying the challenge. He now looked forward to returning the favour.

After five minutes, Eeth called on the teams to switch roles. He paced the gym for another five minutes, again monitoring the fights closely through the Force. Then he called up each team in turn while the others continued to practice. He let them spar against each other for a while, giving advice to both. Then he worked with each team member individually, pointing out their weaknesses and giving instructions for improvement.

Chinda and Barnis came first. Essentially, Eeth's role came down to making Chinda move faster and Barnis more slowly. Precision was an issue with Barnis, too; Eeth tripped him up twice because the boy did not pay attention to where and how he landed after a flip. When he was done with the pair, Eeth sent them off for a round of freestyle sparring, with strict instructions not to use any aerial moves, and moved on to Raven and Worik. Again, he watched them for a while. Unsurprisingly, Raven was by far the superior fighter but Worik was doing a good job at tuning in with the Force and he was getting better at adapting to her style and anticipating her attacks. Eeth worked with Worik for a few minutes, giving him recommendations on how to improve on the surprise element of his counterattacks. Then he called up Raven.

Although Raven had been practicing with Worik as instructed, she had also kept her eye on how Chinda and Barnis fared with Eeth. When he called her to him, she stepped up and stood tall. Again, she felt that same pull in the Force that seemed to be guiding her towards him; standing before him felt right.

"I will attack, you block," Eeth told her, getting a curt nod in response. He deliberately went in fast, changing the direction of his attack in the last second and thus causing her to lose balance. In the second she needed to stabilise herself, she already had his lightsaber at her throat.

Raven looked up at him, honestly surprised to find herself flattened so fast. Okay, so that was how this was going to be.

"This would not have happened if you had paid more attention to your feet, rather than the way you wave around your saber," Eeth said crisply, stepping back and assuming a ready stance once more.

"Wave around my saber?" Raven huffed, finding that comment insulting. She flipped to her feet in a move that was not performed to show skill, but demonstrated that she had it nonetheless. Her saber came up; she was ready for him now!

"Yes, that is what I said," Eeth replied stoically. "And I generally mean what I say." Without giving her time to respond, he launched into the next attack sequence.

This time, he deliberately provoked her to use one of her favourite defensive moves that she had almost certainly not learned from her crèche master and managed to knock her saber out of her hands neatly.

Raven had rarely been divested of her weapon, and the look on her face as she reached out with the Force to summon it back into her hand would have conveyed as much to Eeth.

"And this is what happens when you use moves that nobody has properly taught you," Eeth commented, completely unfazed. "Your hold on your saber is wrong. Watch how I place my hands." He raised his saber in demonstration. He was by no means trying to embarrass her; he had not been one bit more lenient with any of the other initiates. In his experience, initiates with a particular gift for lightsaber combat often lacked serious opponents and thus were altogether too self-confident and too convinced of their abilities. Raven was certainly not the only one in this class who employed moves she had not officially been taught, and in fact, she had mastered them comparatively well. Still, she needed to learn to pay attention to detail.

Raven looked at his hands, and then down at her own grip before looking back up again. He was right. It was at that moment that she made a pact with herself: regardless of whether or not she was chosen as a padawan, one day she, too, would be that effective with a lightsaber.

Eeth worked his way through several more attack sequences, correcting everything from Raven's stance to the execution of her slashes. When he was done, he gave her a perfunctory nod, told Worik and Raven to continue on freestyle sparring – again, without resorting to aerials – and moved on to Rayan and Shelya.

"Force, did you see that?" Raven told Worik who had been waiting for her to finish with Eeth.

"Mhmm," Worik replied, but he sounded less impressed by it all than Raven was.

Raven got it, really she did; not everyone was into lightsaber training. Still, she had expected that, given that they were training with a member of the Jedi High Council and all, he might just be a bit more excited. Oh well, sparring with Worik was fun, so she ignited her saber and grinned. "Don't hold back."

As Eeth was working with Rayan and Shelya, Barnis apparently became bored with attacking and blocking. While Eeth had his back turned to him, he started trying to get one over Chinda, and possibly to impress her, by slipping in some flips and jumps that he had not exactly been taught to do, and more importantly, that belonged to the category of aerials which Eeth had expressly forbidden them from performing. Chinda just rolled her eyes, privately considering Barnis a show-off. She refrained from joining in but that did not stop the boy. What stopped him was Eeth. He excused himself to Rayan, made his way to Barnis and Chinda in two long strides and snapped: "Freeze!"

Two pairs of eyes gazed up at him; Chinda's were calm and Barnis's wide and apprehensive. Rightly so, Eeth thought.

"What have I told you about performing aerials?" he asked Barnis in a no-nonsense tone of voice.

"Umm, well, not to…" the Zabrak boy muttered. "But it was only a backflip. I've been doing those for ages!"

"I do not want to hear it," snapped Eeth. "I gave you clear instructions and you disobeyed them. Thus, there is nothing to debate. That will be a dozen with the paddle. Stay here after class. You have cost your classmates enough time already. And now carry on. But mind my instructions this time."

He turned and walked back to Rayan, completely ignoring Barnis but well aware what effect this demonstration of his approach to discipline would have on the class.

"Ouch!" Raven sympathised with Barnis and nudged a now silent Worik. "Hey!" she whispered, putting a little more oomph behind her words when he failed to respond.

Worik looked at her, half not believing what he had heard. "Did he say he was going to paddle him?" he asked.

"Yes. Surely you've not made it this far without seeing someone catch it during a class?" she asked, half-confused, half-intrigued.

"No. But. Harsh much?"

Raven shrugged. "Yeah. But, he was stupid enough to get caught."

After having worked with each of the initiates and shown them the areas in which they needed improvement, Eeth ended the class by teaching the whole group a "new" defensive move – namely, a move that was usually not taught to initiates, but which each but one of the children in this group had already used, albeit somewhat inexpertly. He showed them what they needed to know in order to master the move, made them repeat it several times and told them to practice it for the next lesson on Friday. Finally, the class filed out of the training room – except for Barnis, of course, who had to stay back for his paddling and was looking rather apprehensive.

"Sorry, Master Koth," he said in a small voice, hoping against hope that the Jedi master had forgotten about his promise or might reconsider if faced with a sufficient amount of contrition. "I won't do it again."

"Good," Eeth said curtly. "In that case, you will not find yourself at the receiving end of a paddling again. If you misbehave in my class, you will have to bear the consequences. Every single time. Pull down your pants, bend over and place your hands on the bench." He nodded towards one of the benches that were lined up against the wall of the gym.

Barnis backed up towards the bench and slowly, very slowly started to undo the drawstring of his pants.

"If you are not in position in fifteen seconds, I will increase the count," Eeth informed him matter-of-factly, pulling the paddle out of his belt. He did not have all afternoon! That got Barnis going.

Eeth usually did not spank his students on the bare (a restriction that had not applied to his padawan!), but then, the wooden paddle he carried around in his belt hurt more than enough over underwear. He now raised that paddle and brought it down onto the unlucky initiate's bottom with a resounding splat. Barnis flinched and yelped.

Eleven equally firm swats later, a very sorry initiate was slowly rising from his position over the bench, trying to wipe the tears from his face with one hand and to rub the sting away with the other.

"The next time, mind my instructions," Eeth said sternly, sticking the paddle back into his belt. "Dismissed."

* * *

The rest of the class had headed for the creche cafeteria where they were to have a mid-afternoon snack and then return to their respective creche groups. While standing in the line for drinks, they talked about the class and about Barnis being kept behind, and generally griped about how Eeth was such a hard-ass.

Raven joined in on bagging out Eeth for being strict, but the truth was, she still had that same niggling feeling that was pulling at her, and it wasn't going away! Before she could grab a glass of juice, she noticed the training droid they had been assigned at the beginning of Eeth's class was still attached to her belt. She unclipped it, drawing everyone's attention.

"Do you still have that?" Chinda asked. "You'd better return it, or Eeth will, oh, I dunno…" She smirked, and the others laughed.

"Yeah, I don't usually forget stuff. Unless it's the time…." Raven groaned. But again, this was mostly for show; the thought of seeing Eeth again didn't fill her with dread, nor was she afraid of him as most seemed to be. After receiving several pats on the back for encouragement, Raven turned and headed back to the gym.

Each time she pursued a path that lead to an encounter with Eeth Koth, Raven felt that pull. Likewise, if she actively thought of doing the opposite, something was nudging at her to go forward. It was very hard for her to explain the feeling so she had spent a lot of time meditating with her creche master. Lowfac had a feeling that he knew what it was. Then again, it wasn't for him to decide these things. That was between Eeth, Raven and the Force. He did, however, actively guide her to her own conclusions which, as she looked down at the training droid in her hand, she now knew were more of a certainty than wishful thinking on her part.

So deep in her thoughts was she that Raven didn't detect Barnis running down the hall towards her. He barged at her shoulder on the way past, almost sending her flying into the wall. The truth was he didn't want anyone to see him crying, which was why he was running with his head down and hadn't seen her.

"Hey! Asshat! Watch where you're going," Raven yelled at his retreating back.

"Mind your manners, initiate Raven Trebeck," a quiet and level male voice said behind her back. "Swearing at your fellow initiates is unacceptable."

Eeth, who had been on his way home, folded his arms across his chest and gazed down at Raven sternly.

Raven spun to face him, her eyes wide with surprise and nearly dropping the training droid in the process. She looked up at him, noting the folded arms and frowny face. Did Eeth Koth even know what an asshat was? Did she dare ask that question? She coughed, her cheeks flushing slightly beneath her eyes which was a sure signal to anyone who knew her that she was either embarrassed, sunburned or hot. Raven did not back up, though. Instead, she stood tall and tried to look like having him looming over her wasn't at all unnerving. "But, what if it happens to be true?" she settled on.

Eeth's face darkened. "Are you honestly unable to think of more appropriate ways to express your displeasure?" he asked coolly.

Raven thought about that. Could she think of more appropriate ways? "Probably, but they wouldn't be nearly as satisfying." She gave him a slightly cheeky grin which denoted that she wasn't entirely serious. Not entirely… Wanting to change the subject before he could point out that being a Jedi was not about giving into one's emotions, she held up the training droid, tossing it once and catching it. "I forgot I had this. I came to put it back before the next class started."

"Then go ahead and do so," Eeth said curtly. "And do not let me catch you using such deplorable language again. The paddling you will receive from me for that will be sure to outweigh any satisfaction you might feel over it. Am I clear on that?"

Well, that had gone over like a lead balloon. Raven opened her mouth to say something smart, but thought better of it and closed it again. She was surprised to find herself feeling somewhat chastened over what she considered such a minor offence. One thing they were both in agreement over was that she did not want another paddling. So… "Yes, Sir. Clear." And with that, she crab-walked her way around him, and took off for the gym without looking back.

Eeth looked after her for a moment, eyebrows raised. Then he walked on toward the exit of the creche. This, he believed, was not the right moment to address a potential padawanhood. Raven would need some more time to get to know him. And maybe he himself would need some time to mentally prepare…

* * *

That evening when Lowfac came to tuck her in, Raven was feeling a little crestfallen. She had been sure that the Force was leading her towards Eeth Koth, but nothing he had said or done gave her the impression that he felt the same. "Maybe it's just a coincidence, or maybe it happened by accident?" she told him as he tucked the sheets in around her.

"Nothing happens by accident," he told her quietly, seating himself next to her. "Have patience and trust in the Force. Eventually, it will all be clear."

Raven sighed. "It's easy for you to say that. You've already found your place in the Order. I'm still looking for mine."

Lowfac smiled. That Raven did not consider life outside the Order was all-telling; this child was going to become a padawan alright, it was just a matter of with whom and when. Not that this was terribly hard for him to guess…

He brushed her forehead with his hand and stood to turn off her lamp.

"Master Lowfac?" Raven asked before he could turn out her lamp. "Did you ever feel like you weren't going to find your place?"

"I sure did. I think just about everyone feels like that at some stage in their life, whether they be Jedi or civilian. Don't dwell on it. Feel it, accept it and release it into the Force like we practiced."

Raven closed her eyes and he felt her drawing on the Force. "'Night," she said through a yawn and curled into a ball to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

During his evening meditation, Eeth found his thoughts constantly wandering to initiate Raven Trebeck. The signs were fairly clear. Maybe he just ought to talk to the girl, take her as his padawan and be done with? But what if he could not do right by her? When he had taken on Lakhri, he had not wondered such a thing. In fact, he now knew that he had been overconfident then, maybe in an unconscious effort to avoid acknowledging his uncertainties. This had made him behave quite horribly: harsh, unfeeling and unforgiving. Fortunately for Lakhri, his master had still been around to comfort the boy and point out his failures to Eeth. However, Fenya Jaa had died three years ago and Eeth honestly found himself missing her guidance. What if he made a mess of things again and his master was not around to tell him?

Eeth would have loved to talk to Lakhri. In recent years, his relationship with his former padawan had become more and more comfortable, and their talks always lightened up Eeth's mood. Lakhri was the only person who could occasionally make him laugh. Unfortunately, the man was on a long-term peace-keeping mission at the Outer Rim. He had been gone for more than a year and it would probably be another year until he got back.

Eeth thought it a bit ridiculous that he, a Jedi master and member of the Jedi High Council, entertained such doubts about the trivial task of raising another padawan learner. But it was what it was. He would simply need to overcome his fears and uncertainties and move forward. And he was determined to do so, as soon as a good opportunity to talk to the girl in private presented itself!

Now there was nothing for it but to wait and see what the next lesson would bring.

* * *

Over the next three weeks, things went much the same for Raven. Creche life was comfortably predictable and stress-free. Well, kind of stress-free, if you don't include the trouble that she (and by proxy, Orion) had gotten into for attempting to sneak into Eeth Koth's freestyle sparring class a couple of weeks ago. Eesh! Harsh much? He'd forced her into telling him Orion loaned her his uniform and then he had paddled the backside clean off her for the deception. If that wasn't bad enough, he'd paddled her again for lying to him; entirely unreasonable! Or so she would tell any of her peers. She had to admit that the week of early bedtimes from creche master Lowfac turned out to be a blessing in disguise, though, as it had helped her deal with the confusion that Eeth's presence had set in motion. Was the Force guiding her to Eeth? And if so, was she to be his padawan? Maybe it was wishful thinking? The latter was not likely as Eeth was not exactly the friendliest of persons and Raven would not typically seek out such a prickly personality. Was it something else entirely? It was all uncertain, so the time that she spent talking with Orion and meditating with Lowfac was helping to keep her grounded.

Meanwhile, the classes she was taking with Eeth provided her with a bi-weekly challenge that served a dual purpose. Firstly, it allowed her to spend time with Eeth. Granted, he was an abrupt, grumpy stick-in-the-mud kind of guy, but the more time she spent with him, the less the feeling of loss niggled at her.

Lowfac knew that the Force would lead his student in the right direction. Why it was taking so long was not for him to question. Thus, he continued to meditate with Raven when he could. Guided meditation was helping her to organise her thoughts and feelings which was imperative, given the circumstances.

* * *

It was Tuesday lunchtime, and Raven's creche was in the cafeteria. This afternoon at 3 pm, Eeth Koth's lightsaber class was on again, and Raven was excited. She ate and chatted animatedly. There was also a hint of sadness buried deep down. Today, they were halfway through the twelve classes, with only six to go; what if classes ended and she never saw Eeth again? Surely that would confirm that she had misread the intention of the Force. It would not be the first time. Jedi were not omnipotent or omniscient, after all. Raven wasn't sure how she felt about that but knew that dwelling on it would achieve nothing. Yeah, that was the theory. The practice was much harder.

* * *

Eeth made his way to the creche gym in his usual fast, purposeful strides. His initiates' class was making good progress, as was to be expected with such a comparatively talented group of children. They had also been on their best behaviour after he had disciplined Barnis because nobody had wanted his paddle to come out again. Their initial terror of him seemed to have faded just a little when nobody else had managed to attract his displeasure in any substantial way, though. He thought he might have to put his foot down again if this went on. At least the group was fairly diligent. Only once had he had to chide one of them for not properly practicing the move he had taught them – Shelya, after the second session during which he had worked on a complex attack sequence. It had not been bad enough to warrant punishment, though, and after having been scolded in front of the class, she had pulled herself together and applied herself just as much as the rest of the class.

Eeth had not found a good opportunity yet to talk to Initiate Raven Trebeck. Maybe it was for the better, he reasoned. She still did not know him very well and might need more time to make up her mind. He had no idea whether she felt particularly drawn to him but there was no uncertainty left in his own mind as to where the Force was leading him. It was just a matter of timing, at this point.

As usual, he entered the classroom to find all six initiates present. He lost no time in leading them through a thorough warm-up. Then he told them to find a partner and engage in five minutes of freestyle sparring, employing all the moves he had taught them during the last three weeks.

Each class, Raven had been paired with someone different. This was their sixth class, so Raven was not surprised to find herself facing off against Worik again. It worked for her. Raven had become friends with all her classmates by now, but she liked Worik's personality most. Besides, he was fun to fight and they shared the same sense of humour. She blocked the flurry of attacks coming her way with fast, precise swipes of her saber, but her thoughts were, as they had so often been lately, centred on herself.

"Careful you don't hurt yourself there," Raven teased. It was at that moment that Eeth called for them to switch roles.

"So, now the worm has turned," Worik countered and began attacking, making sure to taunt her as much as she had him.

"Worik. Raven. Focus on what you are doing and keep your witty comments to yourselves," Eeth, who despised talking in his classes, barked. "Or is this drill not challenging enough for you? Would you prefer to skip rope instead?"

"Umm, no. Sorry," Raven replied for them both. It wasn't that Raven disliked skipping, it was fun; but she didn't want to give up sparring for it. She shook her head and looked over at Worik who was doing the same.

Continuing without pause, Raven parried blows and struggled to keep a straight face with Worik baiting her. "Stop it!" she said through a chuckle." He'll bust us both, then you'll know about it."

The two were lucky that Eeth chose that moment to call the warm-up exercise to a halt. He now attacked each initiate in turn in order to see how well they had mastered the defensive move they had been told last Thursday to practice. As Eeth had expected, most of them did sufficiently well, except for Rayan who obviously had not practiced at all.

"Since practicing defensive moves is obviously not interesting enough for you, maybe you prefer running ten laps around the main gym," Eeth said sternly. When Rayan failed to start jogging immediately, Eeth raised his eyebrows and folded his arms across his chest in a rather threatening manner. "Well? What are you waiting for?" he snapped.

Rayan stared at him dumbfounded for a couple more seconds. Then he hurried off, scowling. Without seeming to pay him further mind, Eeth gathered the remaining five initiates around himself and proceeded to show them how the defensive move they had practiced could be turned into a very effective counter-attack. It was a complicated move, much more complicated than those they had studied during the preceding three weeks. It required not only perfect balance, but also complete concentration. Eeth was confident that they would master it eventually but it would be a challenge. He had them practice on their own for a quarter of an hour, pacing between them and correcting them, and then paired them off again, but with different partners than before. Raven was put together with Chinda, Worik with Shelya and Rayan with Barnis.

Raven frowned at the prospect of being paired with the Twi'lek girl. Sure, Raven liked her well enough, but she was a bit of a bore. Chinda's fighting style was very straight and not exactly open to improvisation or creativity. Oh well, it was what it was. Raven treated her to a friendly smile while trying to ignore Worik who was, at this point, attacking Shelya, the Ishi Tib. Shelya was the best defensive fighter Raven had faced in her age group to date, but she was not interested in actually beating him. This lack of offensive enthusiasm left Worik with plenty of opportunities to pull faces at Raven when his position granted privacy.

Chinda didn't mind sparring with Raven either. She ran her hand across her forehead, wiping away the sweat, and smiled in return, apparently satisfied with the match and ready to begin again.

It did not take long for Raven to become bored with Chinda's style. Which was why, when they had switched roles and it was Raven's turn to defend, her thoughts and attention began to wander. Maybe she wasn't meant to be a Jedi knight. It was possible, yet no other path felt right. Lowfac had told her not to dwell on it. It was what he told everyone, but it was hard not to!

Swatting away a few blows without much thought, she returned her attention to the fight, but not before catching sight of Worik who had his eyes crossed. Raven suppressed a laugh; laughing in Eeth's very serious class would undoubtedly draw attention. Thus, she only allowed a slight smile to pull at the corner of her lip.

Slowly and purposefully, Raven led the fight with Chinda towards Worik. The smile she had been concealing broke free as she gathered the Force around her. In one quick inconspicuous movement, she sent a light push his way. It was not enough to wipe him out, of course not, but she did manage, at least, to wipe the silly expression off his face, if only for a moment. The two grinned knowingly at each other and Worik considered himself paid back for the faces he'd pulled earlier.

Alas, directing Force pushes, however light, at other students in one of Eeth's classes was not a good idea.

"Initiate Trebeck!" he boomed. "You may disignite your lightsaber and put your nose into the corner until I have got the time to deal with you." The glare he pointed at her clearly told her that she had better get moving. He was well aware that Worik had been goading her, but nothing the boy had done had warranted intervention, let alone retaliation, in Eeth's opinion. A Force push was an entirely different matter. And that was a rule that every initiate knew.

There were only five more minutes left to the class, so Raven was not going to miss a lot of instruction – but of course, being made to stand in the corner was not exactly something an initiate who was hoping to be made a padawan soon was going to appreciate.

Hearing Eeth call her name in that tone of voice had Raven almost drop her lightsaber. Thankfully, she possessed a bit more control than that, and instead of falling over herself turning around, the spin looked controlled and graceful. It was also lightning-fast; Raven didn't think she had ever moved that fast before! She stared at him, and then she looked to her classmates, each of whom wore a different expression: Worik was wincing, Chinda looked startled, Rayan smug, the Zabrak, Barnis, sympathetic and Shelya indifferent.

Eeth had not given her any options here, so Raven turned, found a corner and stuck her nose in it. Cornertime was for younglings, and this was humiliating; she was eleven, not four! She was also surprised that Eeth had picked up on the sneaky move, but in hindsight probably ought not to be; there wasn't much he missed, and it had been stupid to risk it. Negative thoughts were beginning to take advantage of her stillness. Raven was not the sort of person who could handle being idle for long periods and it showed in the way that she fidgeted.

Eeth paired up with Chinda for the remaining minutes. He then assembled the class, with the exception of Raven, and gave them instructions on what to practice until Friday. When that was done, he dismissed the students and turned towards the corner where Raven was standing, or rather, fidgeting.

"Initiate Trebeck, come here," he said sternly.

Raven turned in time to see the rest of her classmates filing out of the room, chatting among themselves. For once, she wasn't looking forward to talking to Eeth; this conversation was probably going to be memorable for all the wrong reasons. Raven was not one to show fear in the face of adversity, though, she was brave… Yeah. She looked up at Eeth, her hands unconsciously wringing the hem of her tunic.

Eeth folded his arms across his chest, giving her a piercing look.

"Tell me what you are going to be punished for," he ordered.

Over the last few weeks, Raven had come to know Eeth well enough to know that giving any sort of smartass reply would not work in her favour. Still, she did not like having been stupid enough to get caught out; that grated. Could she get away with nothing lately? She huffed. "Because I used the Force when I wasn't supposed to," came the reluctant confession. Why masters thought it necessary to ask questions they already knew the answers to was beyond her.

Eeth frowned. "Initiate, you Force-pushed one of your classmates during lightsaber practice," he said icily. "Even the younglings in the junior creche know that this is absolutely forbidden. I expect my students to apply themselves to what I have to teach them and, above all, to stick to the rules. You did not see fit to do so and that is why you are going to receive a punishment that will hopefully convince you to behave yourself the next time. – Pull down your pants and place your hands on the bench."

He nodded towards the same bench that Barnis had had to bend over three weeks ago and pulled the paddle out of his belt.

Unfortunately for Raven, she already had experience with Eeth's paddle. It hurt, and the thought of getting it again was enough to have her whining as she complied. "It was just a bit of fun." Force, that was the worst argument she had ever come up with to date!

The look on Eeth's face darkened further, if that was even possible. It clearly said what he thought of that argument. He did not dignify it with a verbal response, though.

Disinclined to push or even wait for an answer, since he had given her three extra for doing that the last time, Raven let her belt and trousers drop to the floor with a thunk. She turned, put her hands on the bench and tightened every muscle in her body; there was not much else she could do to prepare for this, after all.

Eeth made short work of this punishment, as he usually did with paddlings in class. He did not make it quite as hard as he had done with Barnis, since Barnis was Zabrak and had a correspondingly higher tolerance for pain. But he made it plenty hard enough. Raven was unlikely to get out of this with her dignity intact, and she was going to feel it for a while when sitting down as well. How else was she going to learn from it?

Alright, so at least this time she had a bench to hang on to. That was one small mercy. There were no others. Raven miserably "Ow-ed" and "Ahh-ed" her way through the first half dozen but, like last time, her protestations did not affect the force or speed at which Eeth wielded his paddle. In her limited experience, Eeth gave six swats which increased to nine if the person in question argued. She had not argued with him but he landed a seventh! Okay, so now the initiate braced herself for nine, although the tears were already streaking her face. Maybe it was more this time because she had used the Force? When the tenth landed, though, she let out a wail. "Howw manyy morrrrre?" she asked tearfully, a hand coming back to rub. Her backside actually felt hot to the touch through her underwear, and the burn and sting was truly unbearable!

"Disrupting my lesson and breaking the rules will reliably earn you a dozen swats," Eeth snapped. "Put your hand back onto the bench."

When she had reluctantly complied, he quickly dealt out the last two swats, and he made them quite spectacular. He also aimed them at her upper thighs where he knew they would sting twice as much. Raven was not going to feel inclined to fool around in his class again if he had any say in it!

The screech that came out of Raven at those last two swats was not loud, per se. It was, however, high-pitched enough to crack glass! The sting! No, the burn? Fuck! Her pain receptors had gone into overload and were sending her brain mixed messages. She sprang upright, turned her backside to the bench and bounced around in little circles, both hands switching between rubbing a thigh or butt cheek. At this point, Raven did not care that her trousers were trampled into oblivion, or that Eeth saw her tearful sniffling and the telltale hitching that denoted she was crying. All she cared about was trying to soothe her backside.

Eeth stood and watched Raven for a minute, his face expressionless. Then, he finally said: "Initiate, calm down and pull up your pants." This, he told himself firmly, was not the right moment to propose the girl a padawanhood. A small voice inside his head informed him that this was exactly what he had done with Lakhri. But that, he sternly assured himself, had clearly been a less than ideal start to what had been a difficult few years. Better not to repeat the mistake. Why was he feeling compelled to argue with himself all the time, anyway? This was highly irritating. His irritation showed, as it usually did, in a facial expression that was even more emotionless than it normally was.

Despite still trying to get her sniffling under control, Raven obeyed and hitched up her trousers. Unlike Orion's uniform, this one fit so when she did this, they stayed up. Sort of. One hip was pulled halfway up her torso, while the other side was wedged up her ass crack; this was not comfortable, but at least she was dressed. She looked up at Eeth, finding his expression blank. Raven could not read it. Had he meant to make it hurt that much? It still burned, but at least it was no longer building. That was a relief. "Sorry," she said when her breathing would allow for coherent speech. Most of her teachers expected an apology after punishment; Eeth was probably no different. Besides, he might have just paddled her, but she found herself not wanting to leave. What did she expect him to do? What was she waiting for? Raven didn't know; she must be out of her damned mind.

"Apology accepted, initiate," Eeth said in a flat tone of voice. He was fully aware that the girl was hurting, and yes, he had meant to make it hurt. To him, this was nothing out of the ordinary. However, Raven seemed to be waiting for him to say something more, so he added curtly, as he had done with Barnis: "You're dismissed."

Raven was not sure what she had expected to hear from him, but it wasn't that. The girl grabbed her belt, the saber still attached, and quickly slung it around her middle. She paused for another couple of seconds and opened her mouth to speak, only to close it again. What could she say? 'Aren't you going to say more?' 'Why are you dismissing me?' Ludicrous! He would think her a complete nutter. Force, she _was_ a complete nutter! Feeling about as low as she could feel, and with a sore bottom to go with it, Raven gave him a curt bow, turned on her heel and did her very best to walk without showing that she was hurting. No small feat. Well, at least she understood now why Barnis had run out of there like he was on fire the other week; figuratively speaking, he probably felt like at least one part of him was!

Raven made her way to the cafeteria, her eyes red-rimmed and face still a mess. She stopped outside the entrance to swipe at her face with her sleeve. There, that ought to do it.

"You survived," said Worik, jumping up from his seat as Raven entered.

"But only just, by the looks of you," added Chinda.

Barnis gave her a sympathetic look that clearly stated that he knew exactly how she felt.

Raven brushed them off and sat. Or at least she tried to sit; her ass was on fire and that wasn't going to change any time soon. "I'm fine," she said bravely. The truth was that she wasn't sad over the reasons her friends assumed. There was no way she was saying as much, though, so she added: "Nothing a bacta bath won't fix," to go along with it. It was a bit melodramatic, yes, but it made the others chuckle and broke the tension.

Their conversation did not linger long on the paddling. However, being curious initiates, they all wanted to know if Raven had gotten it any worse than Barnis had. After everyone was suitably scared into stellar behaviour for the duration of Eeth's classes, they were interrupted by creche masters who had come to collect them. Well, mostly. Raven noticed that Lowfac had sent Orion who had apparently come to visit her instead. She stood, stiffly, not bothering to hide her discomfort, and managed a smile. It was a nice surprise; her creche master was full of those.

"Hiya," Orion said cheerfully, then sobered at seeing Raven's slightly rid-rimmed eyes and her obvious discomfort when standing up. Her posture seemed slightly dejected, too.

"Let's grab a snack, go to one of the gardens and talk," he proposed. "I've got the rest of the afternoon free. And that's a rare enough occurrence!"

As they made their way to one of the quieter gardens at the edge of the creche wing, carrying a cup of sliced fruit each, Orion asked: "So, what's up? You don't look so great."

"I don't feel so great either," Raven replied honestly. She stabbed at a piece of pingpear with the skewer and popped it into her mouth, the juice dribbling down her chin. She swiped at it with her sleeve, which had gotten a lot of use today. "I got into trouble in Eeth Koth's class." She waved her hand when he gave an enquiring expression. "I was messing around with Worik when I should have been working. It's not what I did or that I got caught doing it. It wasn't even the paddling that followed; I was stupid enough to get caught so I expected to be punished for it."

Raven looked frustrated. "It's the feeling that, even though he's a prickly, 'I never smile', kind of guy, I can't deny that I'm drawn to Eeth Koth and he doesn't seem to feel the same." She threw a hand up for emphasis. "And if he does, he hasn't said anything to me. If this isn't the Will of the Force, then I wish I knew what it was or that somebody would just tell me. Maybe Master Yoda will know?"

"He'd probably tell you to be patient," Orion said, rolling his eyes, "and not to focus on your anxieties. Jedi masters always do that. I dunno. If you feel drawn to him that much, there's probably something to it. Especially since he made sure to teach that creche group you're in. Force knows I've never been offered a six-week class with a member of the Jedi High Council yet, especially not when I was still an initiate! Maybe he doesn't have time for a padawan right now? Or he's waiting until the end of this cycle of classes?"

That Eeth might not have time for a padawan right now had not yet occurred to Raven. After all, at eleven years old, life was still pretty much all about her. "I guess," she replied through a sigh. Raven had spoken to Orion about this over the last few weeks, and it was good to get the latest off her chest. They sat down in a quiet spot where the artificial stream that circled the creche garden flowed closeby. The sound of running water was peaceful and just what Raven needed right now. "I don't remember it being this hard for you and Deleon. Why can't my life be simple?"

"No, it wasn't," Orion admitted honestly. "But then, my master is not a member of the Jedi High Council. "

That Eeth might have issues to deal with, other than a lack of time, did, of course, not occur to either child. In fact, Eeth was unusually troubled over his latest encounter with Raven Trebeck. She had looked at him as if she had expected him to say something but he had honestly been unable to think of anything but his standard dismissal! He knew full well that this had been inadequate. But what else was he supposed to have said?

He managed, with difficulty, to put his mind to other things until his evening meditation. He knew better than to ignore the matter any longer than that. He needed to use his meditations in order to sort through the things that were on his mind, else they would keep distracting him. So it was that he did, once again, examine the feeling that drew him to Raven and the way in which he had dealt with her so far. And suddenly, his master's face appeared before his inner eye.

Of course, what he saw was not actually his master. Fenya was dead and was not in the habit of appearing to her former padawans as a ghost. This was merely Eeth imagining what she might have had to say about his behaviour. He had inadvertently done this a lot when he had been a young knight and unable to go to her for advice but it had not happened in a long time now.

"You're a coward," the imaginary Fenya said. Eeth tried to ignore her, scowling, but the mental image was persistent. What was worse was that he knew it to be realistic. This was exactly what his master would have told him in real life.

"I am not!" he protested, but it was token at best. "I am merely giving the girl time to get to know me and make up her mind."

The mental image of his master's face took on a distinctly sardonic expression which was, again, far more realistic than he would have liked. "You've taught her for three weeks now, being your usual detached, perfectionist, demanding self," she pointed out. "For the Force's sake, you've paddled her twice already! What else do you need to convince yourself that she'll know what she's getting herself into? Stop lying to yourself. You're postponing this because you're afraid of messing it up. Grow up already. The girl is likely feeling drawn to you just as much as you're drawn to her. Your refusal to talk to her is confusing her."

"I don't know for a fact that she feels drawn to me," Eeth pointed out. "I…"

"Nonsense," the imaginary Fenya interrupted him. "Of course she would. She's waiting for you to take the lead. As you should. You're a Jedi master. Pull yourself together and act like one."

Feeling unaccountably chastened, Eeth pulled out of his meditation. He had not done anything as silly as talk to his deceased master in a long time. But the thing was, silly though it might be, it was what he had needed. If his master were still around, this was the precise moment at which she would have put her foot down. And she had always been right about such things.

He stared into space for a moment. Then he finally sighed and straightened up. "Thank you, master," he said softly, feeling even sillier – and rather glad that nobody was here to watch. He walked over to the terminal and sent a message to initiate Raven Trebeck's creche master, asking him to send the girl to his quarters tomorrow at 5 pm.


	4. Chapter 4

"Initiate," Eeth said gravely as the door to his quarters swished open at 5pm on Wednesday. He beckoned Raven inside, nodding his thanks at the creche aide who had brought her.

His quarters were standard fare for individual knights: a living room with a kitchenette, a bedroom and a refresher. The only non-standard feature was the balcony that overlooked a substantial part of this hemisphere of Coruscant. If he had made an effort, he probably could have kept the larger quarters he had lived in when Lakhri had been his padawan, but after Lakhri had been knighted, Eeth did not see the point in having an extra bedroom. Besides, he was never one to claim privileges, and he positively detested luxury.

The common room walls were white. The room was immaculately tidy and held the Jedi standard furniture; in as far as there had been a choice, Eeth had opted for black. There were few personal items in the apartment but it was still a significant improvement over the entirely stark quarters that Eeth had held when Lakhri had become his padawan eighteen years ago. For example, Lakhri had bought them a rug during a mission when he had been a senior padawan and had left it with Eeth after he had moved out. Fenya had once brought him a Senchi tea set, which was standing on a shelf next to the dining table, along with a collection of various teas that Eeth enjoyed. The kitchenette held a spice shelf that was as well-organised as it was well-equipped because Eeth liked cooking and was good at it. Thus, even though his quarters were fairly spartan, they had a slight personal touch and looked lived-in.

Eeth motioned for Raven to sit on the couch while he took a seat on an armchair opposite her. He had placed a cup of bitter Argoran tea on the table for himself and a glass of juice for Raven.

"Are you wondering why I asked you here or do you have an idea?" he inquired, coming straight to the point as usual.

"I have an idea," Raven replied. She was also not one for beating around the bush which was why these last few weeks had been particularly hard on her. Oh well, it was the Will of the Force. Nothing she could have said or done would have gotten her to this point any faster. It was a relief, in any case. A relief to finally be in a position to confide her thoughts and feelings to Eeth without him thinking her a complete lunatic. "Have you felt drawn to me, too?" Her gaze lingered on Eeth for a moment longer before dropping to the glass of juice he had poured her. It had taken quite a bit of courage on her part to ask it. If Eeth said no, then it would confirm that these last few weeks were just a coincidence. If he said yes, then what did that mean? Raven didn't know, but she hoped Eeth did.

"Yes," Eeth replied. Apparently, his bad conscience, in the shape of his former master, had been right and the girl had indeed felt the same as him. It did not occur to him that Raven had no idea to interpret this, though, so obvious was it to him.

"How do you feel about it, though?" he inquired. "It must be quite obvious that I am not the most lenient of masters. I think I am rather rumoured to be among the strictest. Does that fact worry you?"

Raven had thought about those two questions quite a bit these past few weeks, but now that she was finally talking to Eeth about it, she was finding them hard to answer. "How do I feel about the fact that the Force has guided me to the strictest master in the Jedi Order?" Her nose wrinkled and she sat back in her chair, arms flopping to her sides; how was she supposed to answer that, anyway? "At first I wasn't even sure if it was the Force or not, but the more time that passed, the more I wanted to be around you." She squinted a bit because that had to sound weird! Raven continued nonetheless. "I guess anyone would want their master to be easy-going. Master Lowfac's always telling us that what we want and what we need are two entirely different things, though."

"That is most certainly true," Eeth replied slowly. It had been true for him, in any case, albeit in different ways than for others. He had not exactly WANTED to learn to get along with people, but the Force knew he had needed to! And his master had made sure that he did – well, up to a point, at least. It was still not his strong suit. He had studied small talk like a foreign language, though, so at least the diplomacy part of his job description was not an issue any longer. And, of course, he had had plenty of practice by now.

Focussing his attention on the present and on the girl sitting in front of him, he said: "The road towards becoming a Jedi knight is hard and dangerous. You will be wielding deadly weapons on a daily basis, and as such, you will pose a risk to yourself and others. Therefore, you cannot be allowed to indulge your impulses and emotions. You will need to learn control and self-discipline. Some Jedi can achieve this with little trouble but most cannot. Therefore, having an easy-going master is not always the best option if Jedi knighthood is the goal that you ultimately want to reach. You do, however, have a choice. The Force gives us guidance but it does not compel us to follow that guidance. If you have doubts whether becoming a Jedi knight is really what you want, you should be honest with yourself and me. There is no reason for hurry, after all. You may have all the time you need to make up your mind. If, however, you are sure that your path leads you towards knighthood, then, I think, we would be well-advised to follow the Will of the Force. It has been leading us toward each other for a reason, even though that reason might not be apparent yet."

"I have never doubted whether or not I'm meant to be a Jedi. I doubted how I was going to get there, is all." Raven gave him a smile. The longer Raven spent in Eeth's presence, the more she relaxed and the clearer her thoughts and feelings became. It was the Will of the Force, Eeth was going to be her master, and that realisation thrilled, scared and intrigued her all at once.

Eeth returned her smile with a small one of his own. He, too, realised it was the Will of the Force, and he had always felt comfortable about following that. How he felt about the girl remained to be seen; he knew too little about her as yet. She was good with a saber, ambitious and diligent, that much he could tell; and she did seem strong-willed. Such personalities sometimes found it hard to submit themselves to authority, which was the foundation of how the Jedi Order worked. They needed a master who provided a lot of structure and guidance, and that, Eeth could certainly do. At this moment, he made a silent commitment: he was going to do all it would take to lead this girl to knighthood. He was not going to allow himself, or her, to fail.

"Alright, then," he said softly. "I will take you as my padawan learner, if you are willing to accept me as your master."

Like most younglings training to be Jedi, Raven had wondered how becoming a padawan would feel. Who would her master be? How would they meet and what would happen? As she sat there staring at the man who had just taken on the responsibility of training her to knighthood, Raven sensed that feeling inside settle. Apparently, the Will of the Force had been fulfilled; she was on the right path. Or at least that was how Raven interpreted it at this moment.

"What happens now?" she asked, pulling her feet up under her butt to make herself sit taller. The creche chapter of her life was ending, and the padawan chapter was beginning; it was exciting and sad. Raven was a jumble of mixed emotions, but so far the shock of it all was winning out.

Eeth now finally did what he felt comfortable doing and was good at: he took charge.

"I will need to make some preparations," he said. "My quarters do not have a spare bedroom, so I will have to find other quarters. I will also need to adjust my schedule. My Council duties are fairly demanding and will require some degree of independence from you as it is. I will cancel all duties that are not vital, though, as of next week."

He thought for a few seconds, then decided: "We will schedule the Council meeting that will make our pairing official for Saturday morning. You will move into my new quarters after that. That will leave you tomorrow and the day after tomorrow to pack your things. You will also be able attend your current classes and say goodbye to everyone during those two days – including your classmates in the advanced sparring class that I am teaching. I will continue teaching it for two more weeks but you will not be part of this after Friday. Next week, you will start a new set of classes as a padawan. Your physical training will be my personal responsibility. You will receive my one-on-one attention. I believe that, given your natural skill in this area, you will make better progress that way than you have so far."

Raven listened without interruption, her leg swinging and heel bumping the base of the couch as he spoke. Two days was a long time, an eternity, actually, but she did not argue. "Your one-on-one attention, cool. Does that mean we get to have saber lessons together all the time? Because I want to be as good as you." Raven had not had that sort of attention from any master before, at least not longer than a few hours at a time; this was going to be new.

"Yes," replied Eeth. "For your academic subjects and for mission preparation, you will have classes with other junior padawans. Your workouts, lightsaber practice and Force work will be with me exclusively, at least for the beginning. At a later stage, there might be classes as well, but they will always be in addition to the training I will provide. And I have every intention to enable you to become as good as I am. Or better. I am hardly infallible, after all." Eeth was aware that this might sound like false modesty to some, since he was famous for his skill with a saber, but he was entirely serious. His master had cured him of his arrogance in this regard many years ago. And he was honestly glad if his padawans managed to surpass him in some areas of their training; he had no misgivings at all over the idea that Raven might one day be better than him with a saber.

It occurred to him to ask: "Do you have any questions?" He had not done this with Lakhri, he knew, and that had made for a number of rather awkward situations.

It felt like she ought to have some questions given the circumstances, but Eeth had already covered everything she might have asked. Raven didn't want to go back to creche, though, not yet. So, she picked up her juice and sipped it, thinking. "How did you know that I wasn't Ithan Kord?" The question had been on her mind since she had been busted, after all!

Eeth raised his eyebrows. He understood immediately what she was referring to but it was not exactly the kind of question he had expected her to ask first.

"I was on the Jedi Council when Ithan was made a padawan," he replied. "And I have a good memory. That aside, I only allow padawans in my open sparring class whose masters have cleared them to participate in it. Ithan was not cleared for participation so my datapad alerted me to it."

The look on Raven's face at hearing this information was priceless. If she had a moment with the Force right now, she'd sock it one for that effort at bringing her into Eeth's presence. Well, perhaps she couldn't blame the Force entirely… Not entirely; the class had looked like fun and maybe she might have joined in anyway.

Eeth leaned back in his armchair, fixing Raven with an intense look. "I had better warn you right now," he said, "that it is rather difficult to deceive me. And if I catch you in the attempt, you will not like the result. As a padawan, you will have a single master who is responsible for no one but you. That is very different from a creche master who has to look after an entire group of initiates. Most new padawans find that it becomes a lot harder to get away with mischief than it had been during their creche years."

Raven nodded, but didn't really have any basis for comparison. She did, however, understand his meaning. Well, Raven had never been one to shirk from a challenge, unless, of course, it was mathematical in nature! The thought prompted a question. "Are padawan classes harder?" She had to know.

Eeth considered this. "There is no straightforward answer to this question," he finally said. "The classes will be adapted to your level of skill. You will most likely take placement tests on Monday, after which you will receive a list of compulsory classes and elective subjects. Thus, none of your classes should be beyond your intellectual capabilities. That said, no matter in what level of maths, Basic or any other subject you are placed, there will be a substantial workload which will probably be higher than what you are used to. And I will expect you to work hard and give your best effort. I will never blame you for a poor grade as long as you did your best. I will, however, very much blame you for a poor effort. Should you have problems in one of your classes, talk to me. I do not want to see bad results without being aware that you had difficulties and made an effort to resolve them. Do you have any questions on this?"

Eeth had studied Raven's academic record thoroughly and completely, as he usually did such things. And given what he had learned that way, he rather thought that this was a point he needed to make as early as possible.

Becoming a padawan meant many changes. Well, Raven had expected as much. She had sat similar testing to the ones Eeth mentioned during creche, typically at the beginning of each year. She imagined the test done as a padawan would be of the same design, only it would have different content, of course. Raven carefully pondered over what Eeth had said. That he would never blame her for a poor grade was sure good to know, because academia had never been her strong suit.

"Well, yes. There is one class that I find hard. Actually, I hate it. Can I just tell you what that is now and let you know that I'm gonna suck at it? That way there won't be any surprises."

Eeth raised his eyebrows and took a sip of his tea. "Padawan classes are more specific to your future needs as a Jedi than your classes in the creche might have been," he said. "You might find the subject more interesting with your new teachers. If you do not, let me warn you that I will not accept bad results simply because you are not interested in the subject. I still expect your best effort. I do not particularly want to have to … motivate … you to work for your lessons, but I will not hesitate to do so if necessary. Which class is it that you hate?"

"Anything maths, related to maths or even smelling maths-like." Raven threw up her hands for emphasis. "Surely you must understand, how can anyone in their right mind sit through an hour of that without going completely insane? I mean honestly, can you tell me when I will need to figure out the degree of the third point in a triangle in any real life situation? I can't imagine any missions where I will be required to calculate the angle of the blaster fire before I deflect it with my saber."

Trigonometry, physics, algebra, statistics! Raven hated it all, she really did, and although she had thus far achieved a pass, if only barely, she had yet to make it through a term without ending up in a disagreement with her teacher over some law or theory that she simply couldn't comprehend.

"You will be surprised at how many missions actually require maths," Eeth commented. "Perhaps not in order to deflect blaster fire, but in order to draft or evaluate treaties. Most of the fine details come down to numbers, really. You also need maths in order to be able to understand starship astrophysics. And that is a vital subject. So, I have to disagree with you. Maths is not a useless subject, and I expect you to apply yourself to it." He pointed a severe look at her.

For a moment Raven looked like she were in physical pain. "Apply myself to astrophysics..." she groaned more to herself than to Eeth.

"Astrophysics classes will definitely be in your future," Eeth said drily. "But not quite yet. At eleven years of age, you will be placed in more basic maths and science classes. Now, do you have any other questions? Or shall I just sum up the rules for you so that there are no misunderstandings?"

"Rules…" Raven's pained expression morphed into something more sheepish. "Master Lowfac says I have a talent for bending those. I'm not sure if he meant that as a compliment or not, but I took it as one." She grinned. "It's probably too much to ask that you don't have any."

Eeth frowned. This statement matched what he knew from Raven's record but that did not mean he had to like her attitude.

"Of course there will be rules," he said firmly. "If you find it difficult to stick to them, you will just have to try harder because if you break them, I will punish you. And that is something you will want to avoid."

Raven wrinkled her nose at this statement, but did not interrupt.

"Now," Eeth continued. "Your first and foremost duties as a padawan are honesty and obedience. You are, of course, supposed to obey every Jedi knight or master, but your primary loyalty is to your own master. Disobeying me or lying to me are serious offenses, and you will be well-advised to avoid them. I also expect you to behave respectfully towards other Jedi, including others of your age. Swearing, rudeness or physical altercations with initiates or other padawans are not acceptable. Furthermore, I take your safety seriously. Therefore, I expect you to avoid needless risks to your health and life, especially where your weapon is concerned. Any amount of recklessness will have consequences. In addition to these fundamental rules, the general Temple rules are valid. I assume you have learned them in creche. If anything in the main Temple is specifically off-limits to junior padawans, there will be signs that you will kindly pay attention to. Do you have questions about any of this?"

Raven shook her head. She would have expected as much from any Jedi master, let alone from one with Eeth's reputation. Given that she suffered from a chronic case of speaking before thinking, she could only hope that he was sometimes hard of hearing. Yeah, unlikely…. "Is there anything you expect that I may not be aware of?" she asked.

"Other than what I told you?" Eeth asked and thought for a moment. "I do not like to be kept waiting," he finally said. "I expect you to be on time for your lessons, curfew and appointments." This, in his opinion, ought to be self-understood but he had learned that it was not as obvious to anyone as he would have thought it was. Lakhri, for example, had had a habit of running late. Eeth had cured him of it quite effectively, though.

Again, Raven winced. It would seem that Eeth personally detested most of her downfalls: lessons and keeping track of the time! Great. For a moment she wondered what to do now. Should she hug him? Thank him? Raven looked Eeth over quizzically and decided against both for the time being; he did not strike her as the cuddly sort. "What do we do now?" she asked, draining her juice and setting the glass back onto the coffee table.

Eeth rose from his armchair. "I will take you back to creche, talk to your creche master and make arrangements," he said simply. "We will meet again on Friday in class. And then, I will pick you up on Saturday morning for our Council meeting and to move your things. I will send you the time as soon as I know when the Council want to see us. You need only pack personal items. You will receive new uniforms and an upgraded practice saber from the commissary, once you have been made a padawan."

"Alright," Raven replied and stood, bouncing a bit as she did so; she had always been fidgety. She picked up the glass and held it out for him to take. "I don't need an escort, I can make it back to creche alone," she told him. After all, she was a padawan now (well, almost).

"As you well know," Eeth replied calmly and firmly, accepting the glass and placing it on the kitchen counter, "initiates are not allowed in the main Temple unsupervised. Whether you think you need an escort or not, you will have one. Besides, I do want to talk to your creche master. Come."

Raven huffed. She was a padawan now, not an initiate, but it didn't look like Eeth was about to acquiesce. Besides, she was still too wary of him to attempt any sort of challenge, and that he might need to speak with Lowfac was not exactly unreasonable. Thus, she followed

* * *

That Friday at three, Eeth, as usual, entered the creche gym to find his class waiting for them.

"Good afternoon," he said. "As you might have heard, one of the class will be leaving you as of next week. Initiate Raven Trebeck will become my padawan learner and will therefore be transferred to padawan classes. I will, however, continue to teach this class until it ends. This will give us an opportunity to work on strategies for two-on-three fights for the next two weeks which will be quite useful for all of you. Now let us begin."

He noticed that Rayan, in particular, was wearing a mighty scowl on his face at hearing his announcement. Possibly, the boy had hoped to be chosen by him; or he simply considered himself more deserving than Raven, which was in line with what his demeanour generally projected. Well, these things were not subject to any logic of age or skill; and besides, despite what Rayan might thing, Raven was not actually inferior to him where sparring was concerned. Eeth decided to pay the boy no mind, for now.

Although Raven was not a prideful personality, she couldn't help but puff up at Eeth's announcement. She had spent the last two days meditating with Lowfac and talking to her friends about her apprenticeship. It was a huge deal to be chosen by any Jedi master, let alone one as high-profile as Eeth Koth. Most everyone had seemed happy for her, with the exception of a few who were jealous. Well, Raven could understand that. Rayan had been giving her the stink eye since she had entered the gym but she had thus far ignored it. They had never really gotten along; he was an arrogant sod, as far as Raven was concerned, and this latest news would do nothing to improve their relationship.

Eeth noticed that Rayan seemed to be sulking, or more than that; the boy was positively angry. There was, of course, no place for such emotions in a Jedi, let alone one who was participating in a sparring class. While he had the group run through a number of muscle-building exercises as part of their warm-up, he crouched next to Rayan and asked quietly: "Do you need to meditate in order to control your emotions?"

"No," Rayan ground out. He was not going to allow Eeth to humiliate him by sending him off to do meditation like a junior initiate! He was also aware that, unless he made some semblance of an effort, the Jedi master might not give him a choice. So he wiped the scowl off his face and tried to calm down.

"Alright," Eeth said, but he was not fully convinced. "If you sense your aggressions take over, though, you will pull out." This was not an unusual instruction, not even for senior initiates. If Rayan had a problem with it, that was all the more cause for concern.

Eeth rose and had the class join him in order to go through the complex attack sequence he had taught them last time. As usual, he had each of them try it against him to see whether they had practiced. This time, they all had done so; none of them had any desire to replace their sparring class with running laps around the gym, after all.

Then he teamed up the initiates for a round of freestyle sparring, walking between them to give advice. He kept an eye on Rayan while he did so. The boy was currently sparring against Worik and keeping things together, more or less. The initiates were to rotate partners every five minutes until they had all fought against each of their classmates.

The truth was, Rayan was angry, and he felt he had every right to be! Why the Force had Eeth Koth picked Raven over him?! It was unfathomable! As the lesson continued, his indignation grew because everyone seemed to be happy for her. None of them were even questioning if she was good enough, or, more importantly, if there was a better candidate. Of course there was, HE was a far superior initiate. He got better grades, had a far more developed grasp on the Force and was more mature. Rayan had gone out of his way to demonstrate that to Eeth, all for nought. So, yeah, he was seething fucking mad when he got the news.

It did not help that when it came around to sparring with Raven, she wore a smug expression. Well, he was going to wipe it off her face.

Raven was, in fact, just smiling. She was both relieved and happy! Who wouldn't she be after the past few weeks? She opened her mouth to say something about the scowl on his face but closed it again. This was probably the last time she would have to see him unless someone was crazy enough to take him as a padawan. The latter thought had her rethinking her silence, because she knew that he was talented, even if he was an asshole, and there might be a master out there who was willing to deal with that. "Why you giving me the stink eye?" she asked him, just as Eeth called for them to begin.

"Isn't it obvious?" Rayan snorted, lunging forward into an attack that was brutal even for his style. "The Force my ass. Obviously, the Force is broken if it led you to Eeth Koth."

Raven frowned, the smile indeed wiped off her face as she only just managed to block that. "Hey, back off unless you want it right back at you." Raven retaliated with an attack of equal measure, satisfied when he stumbled. Like most of her peers Rayan, too, mistook her small stature for incompetence. It was a mistake. Why couldn't he just be happy for her? She had watched countless peers chosen around her, even her best friend, and yet she had not reacted like this. They didn't even like each other, they never had. In fact, the times their creche groups combined for lessons, Raven and Rayan had gone out of their way to antagonise each other. Well, now she had the ultimate weapon against him; she had been taken as a padawan before him and not by any old Jedi master, by Eeth Koth.

The fact that he was unable to flatten Raven merely infuriated Rayan even more. Forgetting every kind of restraint he had been taught to exercise, he allowed his fury to fuel his attack. "I'm going to wipe the floor with you," he threatened as he came at Raven hard and fast. "You–OOOMPH!" He found himself grabbed by his collar and pulled against an iron-hard torso so suddenly that it knocked the wind out of him.

"You are not going to do anything of that kind," Eeth said icily. "I told you to get a handle on your aggressions and to pull out if you sense them taking over. And I expect my students to heed my instructions. Go and meditate. We will talk more about this after class."

By this stage, every initiate knew what would happen to them if they disobeyed Eeth during his class. So it was with a mighty temper that Rayan disignited his lightsaber and stormed off to do as instructed. This was all _her_ fault, but there was nothing he could do about that for now.

Raven looked up at her master, giving him an 'it wasn't me' kind of look. "I'll go easy on you," she challenged, spinning her saber and eyes twinkling.

"That," Eeth said calmly, "would be a mistake. Because I will not." He launched into an attack sequence that would have had her flat on her back within seconds, had she not learned during the past weeks how to defend herself against it. Eeth knew that Raven had mastered the moves he had taught his class but she would still need to make a substantial effort to hold her own. That would have the added benefit of taking her mind off Rayan's taunts.

By the time Eeth called them to switch to the next person, Raven was panting heavily. As was typical for her, she had given the fight her all and Eeth had not cut her any slack which she appreciated. Force, did she love this.

Meanwhile, Rayan was sitting cross-legged on the bench, eyes closed and doing his best to release his anger into the Force. He was pretty good at Force work and meditations, which was why when Eeth approached him sometime later, he had not even noticed that the class had ended and the room was now completely silent and empty except for Eeth.

"You may stop meditating," Eeth told him, standing in front of him, arms folded across his chest. "Stand up."

His scrutinising gaze was fixed on Rayan's face.

"Initiate," he finally asked, "do you have any idea how dangerous your actions were?"

That was a question Rayan did not want to answer. He huffed as he stood, brushing invisible dust from his tunic. "I was in control," he replied. The last thing he wanted was for Eeth to think he was some crazy out-of-control youngling running around, flashing his saber around without thought. There was plenty of thought gone into it, after all.

"No, you were not," said Eeth firmly. "You let your aggressions fuel your fighting. That is against your training, and what is more, I explicitly warned you not to let it happen. Why did you do it, then?"

"I don't know!" Rayan couldn't admit to Eeth that he was jealous over being overlooked by him. "Sorry. I won't do it again." There.

"I hardly think," Eeth said, "you are in any state to make such promises, seeing as you claim not to know what caused you to act like this. If that claim is truthful – and I am not sure that it is – it is the opposite of being in control."

His gaze never left Rayan's face as he talked. "Did your meditation yield any insights?" he inquired. He knew that he was being obnoxious; the boy most likely wanted nothing more than for this talk to be over with. But the topic was too serious to just deal with it as Eeth usually did with disobedience in his class, which was to punish the perpetrator and dismiss them without further ado.

Eeth was correct, Rayan wanted this talk over with. That said, he was well aware that being evasive with Eeth would not aid his plight to end the conversation any sooner. He was between a rock and a hard place here. "I released my frustration into the Force, I didn't meditate on anything else." Which was true. "I'll talk to my creche master about it. Okay?" He was clutching at straws here, but he was not comfortable talking about this with Eeth.

Eeth realised as much, and he was not going to push it. Rayan hardly knew him, after all, and if he did not want to confide in him, Eeth was not going to blame him for that.

"You will," he said. "I am going to call her tonight and make sure of that. That leaves the matter of disobedience in my class to discuss. You know I will not stand for it."

He pulled out his paddle and ordered: "Bend over the bench." Rayan was going to have trouble sitting down for the next few hours. But that should not come as a surprise to anyone who knew Eeth.

* * *

"You think Rayan's going to get in trouble?" Chinda commented. She was one of the three who had successfully avoided that sort of attention from Eeth so far.

Raven wrinkled her nose. "Probably. He was told to sort himself out, and he didn't. You know what my master is like with disobedience." It felt good to say that, 'my master,' even if the topic was related to the man's infamous aptitude for punishing errant students.

The Twi'lek gave an awkward expression to match Raven's, but let it drop. Rayan would be with them soon enough.

"What was his problem, anyway?" asked Shelya.

"He's jealous," said Raven, taking a sip of her juice.

"About Eeth taking you as his padawan," Barnis finished for her.

Raven nodded. "He thinks I don't deserve it."

"It's not like it's up to you, even if you didn't," Shelya commented, looking down her beak at them. "Anyway, congrats."

"Yeah, congrats," added Chinda. "I can't say I'm jealous, though. He scares me to death."

Worik, who had been silently chewing through the snack he had gotten chose that moment to add: "I think Adi Gallia is going to ask me. I just have a feeling." This got them all talking and took the focus off Raven, for which she was thankful.

"That would be a good match. She's a senator, right?" asked Barnis.

"Yes. But she's still a Jedi and I know for a fact she was considering taking on a padawan learner. I just don't see myself as a field Jedi. Sure, I'm good with my saber and all, that's why I'm in this class with you guys, but I'm better with words than I am with a saber."

The group talked for a while, each giving their opinion on who they thought would end up taking them as a padawan. Rayan did not join the group again, at least not before Raven had to leave. She had to pack her things – granted, not many things, but still. So Raven said goodbye to her classmates. It was Friday afternoon and very unlikely she would see any of them again before leaving the creche tomorrow morning.

Eeth, too, was packing his things. He had managed to procure quarters with a balcony again. Being from a desert race, he had found himself enjoying open spaces ever since he had been brought to the Temple. In the lower levels of Nar Shaddaa, where he had spent his childhood, he had not known any such thing, of course. But he tried not to think about that part of his life if he could help it.

It took him several hours to pack all his belongings into crates and have them transported to his new quarters by hovercart. Even though he did not own many possessions, he seemed to have accumulated quite a number of things over the years, from his spice shelf and his tea collection to the assorted civilian, Jedi and mission-related outfits in his wardrobe. He wanted to have them all unpacked before Raven moved in. It was going to be a long night…

* * *

That evening, when Lowfac came to tuck her in, Raven was understandably restless. "There is no way I'm going to sleep," she complained, kicking her feet and pulling the sheet and blanket out from the end.

Lowfac smiled knowingly and sat by her bed. "You've had a lot going on the last few weeks. Try to relax and clear your mind like we practiced."

Raven did so, but with little success; she was just too wound up. "I'm kinda scared."

For Raven to admit to that was all-telling. "That's normal. A lot of big changes are coming your way. You're about to take an important step towards knighthood. A new master, new classes, new friends. You will have Orion around, although I'm not sure if that is good for you or not. A lot more is expected of a padawan and Eeth Koth does not strike me as the sort to let you run wild."

Lowfac happened to think that the match was perfect. Raven would not make knighthood without guidance from a master who would not let her walk all over him. He patted her feet, causing them to still from the constant fidgeting. "Close your eyes and link with me," he said; getting Raven to settle tonight was going to take some doing. The next morning, she was going to start a new life.


	5. Chapter 5

Eight fifty-seven on Saturday morning, Raven stood fidgeting at the creche entrance, Lowfac by her side. She was waiting for Eeth Koth, her new master, to arrive and take her to their quarters where she would begin the next stage of her life as a Jedi padawan. The last few weeks had certainly brought about a lot of changes for Raven. A decision to sneak out of creche and explore the Temple with her friend Orion had set in motion events that led her to an apprenticeship with the strictest Jedi master in the temple. But his reputation was not what had Raven nervous; what had Raven nervous was leaving the only life she had known and starting another. And although their pairing was Force-willed and felt right, they would need to get to know each other. She was brave, though. She always had been.

Lowfac smiled and put his arm around her as Eeth entered, noting that it was nine o'clock on the dot. "Punctual," he commented, giving Raven a playful squeeze. He knew the way to get her to relax was by making fun of a situation. She was brave, even when she had nothing to be brave over.

Eeth, who was always punctual, bowed in greeting to Raven and Master Lowfac.

"We will go to see the Council now," he told Raven. "We had best send your belongings to our new quarters directly."

Lowfac promised to arrange this. Raven did not own a lot of things; it was not going require much of an effort.

"Thank you" Eeth said. "Now that this is settled, we should get going. Say goodbye to your creche master and come." He studiously refrained from calling Raven 'padawan' as yet. It would only be official when they had seen the Council, after all.

Raven smiled up at Eeth, and then she turned to Lowfac and wrapped her arms around his middle. "Don't think you're rid of me. I'll come see you soon, wait and see."

Lowfac actually chuckled at this. He knew that she probably would come to visit at least once or twice. After time, though, her life as a padawan would start to feel normal, and the time for visiting her old creche master would eventually give way to the pursuit of her goals. It was the natural order of things, of life as a Jedi. Lowfac knew this and he was simply pleased to have had a hand in raising Raven to this point. It was now over to her master. He released her, dropped a kiss to her forehead and gave Eeth a nod. "May the Force be with you," he told them both.

Raven smiled, took a deep breath and followed Eeth from the creche. She was a little bit of just about every emotion: excited, scared, curious, but most of all happy because this felt right.

Eeth was silent at first as he led Raven to the central spire and the elevator that would bring them to the High Council's antechamber. He came this way nearly every day but it had been a long time since he had made it with a padawan at his side, and in order to stand before the Council, rather than sit on it. His silence was not merely due to pensiveness, though; he simply could not think of anything to say. Despite having mastered the art of small talk by now, he usually practiced it with grown-ups, not children. Fortunately for Raven, though, once again the unbidden image of his former master popped up in his head. He suppressed a sigh. She might as well have turned into a ghost at the rate she was currently appearing to give him advice! He decided to start a conversation; it was the only way to get rid of the image.

"I do not know if you know this," he said to Raven, "but you are my second padawan learner. My first one has been knighted seven years ago. He is currently on a long-term mission at the Outer Rim so it will be a while until you will be able to meet him. Do you have any friends yet in the main Temple?"

Raven looked up at him as she hurried to match his stride. Actually, she did know he had a previous padawan. Orion had told her about him during her first week of classes with Eeth. "I only know Orion. He was the one who told me about Lakhri," she replied to both questions. It was then that another thought occurred to her. She scrutinised him for a moment. "How old are you anyway?"

"Forty-two," Eeth replied. He remembered that Orion was the padawan who had lent Raven his uniform. He had recently been apprenticed to Master Deleon Angith, an experienced Jedi. Orion had most likely heard about Lakhri from Deleon.

Forty-two, Raven thought. That was not as old as her creche master, but it was still old!

It occurred to Eeth that Raven might want to meet Orion or make other friends. Most younglings were rather interested in social contacts, as far as he knew.

"You will typically have the evenings and part of the weekends to socialise," he told her. "Unless you have classes, homework or chores to complete, of course. The padawans have their own lounge, which is a favorite location. You will also generally be allowed to use the pools and the gyms without my supervision in your free time, except for a few areas such as the aerials gyms which I will show you this afternoon. I should point out that you will not be allowed to leave the Temple unless I am with you."

"Pools and gyms! Yes!" Raven would do just about any physical activity and be happy about it. But to be allowed unsupervised was a bonus she hadn't counted on. In the creche she was supervised for all classes and physical workouts, including the pools and gyms. This was a new privilege and she puffed up a little as she walked by his side; she was still dressed as an initiate, but she felt like a real padawan already.

Fifteen minutes later, that technicality was taken care of and Raven followed Eeth from the Council chambers, grinning. "I haven't been before the Council before. They were nice." It was all she could think of to say because she was practically buzzing over what had just happened. And she just had to say something because it was official: she was a real padawan learner.

The edges of Eeth's mouth quirked upwards a little at hearing that description of the Jedi High Council. "You gave them no reason not to be," he replied. "We will go to the commissary now and procure uniforms, training outfits and a new practice saber for you. And then, we will go to our new quarters. I only moved in last night myself."

For a moment Raven wondered what he meant by that. Was the Council mean if you didn't do as they said? She imagined they might just be, but put it out of her mind for now.

The trip to the commissary was short and to the point. Raven was measured and fitted with new uniforms, and then she was taken to choose a new lightsaber. It would only be a training saber, albeit a more powerful one than the standard initiates' model; padawans were typically allowed to build a real lightsaber a year or two into their apprenticeship, under the supervision of their master. Still, this was of particular interest to the girl and she took her time making sure that the one she chose did indeed contain a kyber crystal that spoke to her. The new datapad was less appealing to receive, but then again, anything new was novel for the Temple-raised padawan. Eeth arranged for the things they chose to be delivered to their new quarters – well, all but her lightsaber which hung proudly on her belt as they walked the final hall that would lead them to their new home. "Will you miss your old place?" Raven asked conversationally.

"I have no reason to," Eeth replied. "The new one is practically identical, apart from the fact that it has a second bedroom and refresher. Fortunately, I managed to procure quarters with a balcony overlooking the city. We can do some of our meditations there, such as the one I intend to perform after you have unpacked. It will lay the foundations of our training bond."

He stopped at the door and instructed the door panel to register Raven's palm print. Then he had her palm open the door and beckoned for her to step inside.

Raven did – however, not before pulling her lightsaber and bursting through their open door as if expecting to find their quarters crawling with spice smugglers. She dived past the coffee table, performed a perfect commando roll and sprang up from behind the couch. Only the top of her head was visible to Eeth. "Clear!" she yelled, but did not yet replace her lightsaber; one never knew, after all.

Eeth was rather surprised at Raven's antics. He did not quite know whether to be amused or disapproving. In the end, he settled this dilemma as he usually did, by ignoring it.

"Padawan, your belongings from creche have arrived already," he said, pointing at her bag which was sitting below their cloak rack. "Go and unpack. I will make some tea and wait for you in our common room."

Raven stopped with her charade and stared at him: Eeth had just called her padawan. It was a first and she didn't bother hiding her smile. "Does this mean you want me to call you master now?" she asked, a cheeky grin on her face.

"That would be the appropriate term of address, yes," Eeth replied quite calmly. It was still a term of address he associated with Lakhri although the man had called him 'Eeth' for years now. But he would get used to hearing it from Raven soon, he was sure of that. The girl seemed quite exuberant. Maybe she was one of those children who needed physical activity to settle down. Well, he was going to provide her with a thorough workout that afternoon in any case.

He went to the kitchen to prepare some tea. Since he had no idea whether Raven even liked tea, he placed a jug of water and a glass on the dining table as well. After a moment's hesitation, he also put some cookies onto a plate. It was only mid-morning, after all, and still some time to go until lunch. He had ordered a large amount of groceries suitable for humans last night. He supposed he should find out more about the girl's dietary preferences. He was not going to indulge all of her whims, of course, especially if her preferences mostly included desserts, but within reasonable limits, he was willing to take them into account.

While Eeth was in the kitchen, Raven was busy exploring her new bedroom. Okay, so there wasn't a lot to explore here as it was standard, but again, it was new, and so it was novel. She jumped on her bed for a bit, testing out the springs. To her left was a closet with shelving adjacent, and nestled in the corner to her right was a desk, complete with lamp and chair, that drew no more than a perfunctory look from her. A door that led to her refresher was left ajar opposite. It was a compact room, but every bit of space had been utilised, and it felt quite welcoming and cosy.

Satisfied that her bed contained enough springs, the padawan unpacked the small box of things that had been delivered from creche and emerged to find Eeth sitting at the table, with a pot of tea, some cookies and a pitcher of water in front of him. She sat in the chair opposite, pulled her legs up under her and gave him a curious expression. "Do you like cookies, too?" He didn't strike her as a 'cookie-loving' kind of person, but she had been wrong before.

"I do not generally eat a lot of sugary things," Eeth replied. "I bought them for your sake."

"You did? Thank you." Raven took a cookie and rested back into her chair.

"Do you drink tea? Or do you prefer water?" Eeth asked.

"Mostly juice, milk or water. I've never tasted tea before. Can I try yours?" Because, why not? Anything new was worth testing out.

"Of course," Eeth said, pouring her some. "I have quite a big collection. Some are spicy or bitter; apparently, they do not appeal to humans. This one, however, is suitable for a wide range of humanoids, including humans."

Raven took a sip and screwed up her face. "Yecckk, what is that?" she said, her face scrunching.

"This," said Eeth, "is tea from Alderaanian mora flowers. It is quite healthy and also much sought-after for its taste. But I have to admit that it is… what you might call an acquired taste. If you do not want to acquire it, you may drink some juice, milk or water."

"Maybe I'll try and acquire it some other time…" Raven ate her cookie fast because that had been like drinking the leftover water after soaking workout uniforms. Not that she had ever tasted it, but, you know…

Eeth smiled slightly. "I will certainly not force you to share my preference for tea," he said. "Speaking of which: Is there anything that you do not eat, or would prefer not to?"

Well, that was a relief, but Raven did not say as much. She gave his question some thought. "I don't like peas, I hate sour stuff and I don't like eating animals."

Eeth nodded, committing the information to memory. "Is there any particular reason for which you do not eat animals?" he inquired. He knew, from having studied Raven's file, that the girl had a certain affinity to animals through the Force. This was a skill he would want her to develop, but not this early into her padawanhood. For the first year or so, her lessons would focus on more general skills.

"Because it's hard to eat something when you know how it feels before it becomes food." A lot of Jedi were vegetarians for different reasons. Raven's reason was pretty cut and dry; it was hard not to empathise with a gift like hers. And Eeth accepted this without further question. He was not a vegetarian himself but he was more than willing to respect a choice made for reasons of ethics and empathy.

When they had finished their drinks and Raven had eaten the cookies, he showed her where he stored the meditation mats and rolled them out. Then he had her kneel down opposite him.

"This meditation," he said, "will lay the foundation of our training bond. The bond will become stronger every time we meditate or do Force work together. Given enough time, we will be able to communicate through it as well as we can through words, or even better. I will put great emphasis on meditation in your training, probably more so than other masters. In my experience, it is the most important tool for establishing and maintaining mental discipline. Of course, there are many other ways of meditating than the one that involves kneeling down on a meditation mat, and we will take our time to explore them. But for now, we will use what you are probably most accustomed to. Close your eyes, let yourself enter a light trance, and simply follow my lead."

Raven knew how a training bond worked in theory, yet she had, of course, never experienced it for herself. She had often struggled with traditional meditation as she found it hard to quiet her mind and be still. For now, Raven closed her eyes as instructed and concentrated hard on finding the Force trail that would lead her to Eeth. She wanted to have this with her new master, it was special, but despite knowing this, Raven was struggling. So much had happened today and she was finding it very hard to focus.

After five minutes or so, she began to get fidgety.

Eeth waited patiently for Raven to find her calm centre, but she seemed to become more restless with each passing minute, instead of calming down. He had a suspicion why that was.

"Padawan, you are trying too hard to achieve something, or possibly to get this over with," he said quietly without opening his eyes. "Do not focus on anything in particular… or if you need to focus on something, focus on your breathing. You need to calm down. Surrender yourself to the Force. Do not wait for anything to happen. If anything needs to be done, I will be the one doing it. You do know how to free your mind of conscious thought, don't you?"

Did she? Raven scratched her head. "Kinda. But to be honest, I've never gotten very far with meditation. Maybe I don't know how to clear my mind, but I do try," she told him, feeling a little disheartened. What if she couldn't do it? That would be horrifying. She wanted to create their bond, but this sort of Force work had always been difficult for her. Still, she persisted, and with Eeth's guidance, and a lot of patience on both parts, she managed to find his Force presence.

"So you ARE able to do it," Eeth said softly. "Now relax. Do not focus too hard. Just keep doing what you are doing."

Raven smiled, but kept her focus and followed his lead.

Eeth reached out towards Raven through the Force and let slow tendrils of Force energy gently connect with her Force presence. He did not intrude into the core of her Force presence, even though her shields were down, but kept to the surface. It was too early for such a rather intimate connection. Over time, their bond would grow stronger and their knowledge of each other would deepen. For now, he was satisfied with having laid down a foundation upon which they could build.

"Alright," he finally said. "That is enough for today." He opened his eyes and looked at her.

Raven also opened her eyes at his instruction. It had been the most progress she'd made to date and the look on her face said as much. "I'll get better, you'll see," Raven said. She hoped that with time, it would become easier. After all, this sort of bond was well beyond anything she had had before. Sure, as an initiate she had created links with healers and her creche master which were similar, but nothing had felt like this; it was special.

"Oh, I am sure you will," Eeth replied with a small smile. "After all, we will do this every morning and every night."

The thought of having to do so much meditation did not exactly thrill the fidgety padawan. Well, Eeth was in charge. It was not like she had a choice. Besides, Raven did want to create this training bond with him, and meditating with Eeth had not been horrible at all.

"Now, are you ready to have your padawan braid done?" Eeth rose from his kneeling position and went to a drawer to fetch an elastic.

"Yes!" said Raven, jumping to her feet. "Although, I have had a little practice," was added sheepishly. Raven had tied a padawan braid both times she had snuck out of the creche, after all. Apparently, it had not passed muster, though, as Eeth had picked her out as an initiate with little more than a glance. That still grated. Not because she had been punished – that she had expected – but because Eeth had caught her out so easily; as a Jedi, Raven would need to improve those skills. Granted, it was unlikely that she would need to fool a Jedi master often in her career, but still.

Eeth snorted at that. "You will need more practice than that," he pointed out. He did not want his padawans to look like street urchins, after all!

He brushed through her hair with a comb he had brought and picked out a strand behind Raven's right ear. Since her hair was not very long, the resulting braid was little more than two inches long but that would change.

"There you are," he said. "At the moment, it is hardly noticeable, but it will grow. If you want it to be seen, you will need to have a haircut, though."

"Thanks! The next time, I'll try doing it myself." Raven smiled and ran her fingers over the new braid as she took off for the bathroom to inspect her master's work. It was quite impressive, really. Then again, it had not escaped her attention that the older Jedi had quite long hair himself. Creche regulations stipulated that human initiates have sensible, easy-to-manage haircuts. This meant that hair did not typically grow longer than a bob, which was were Raven's was at now. Pulling another elastic from her drawer, she managed to get her hair into a very short ponytail and left her braid hanging. "Look, it's just like the other padawans'," she announced upon exiting her refresher.

Eeth smiled at her. "It is," he confirmed, "if still rather short. As a padawan, you will be free to wear your hair however you like, within limits. You should look presentable, and your hair should not get in the way of your workouts."

It had never occurred to Raven to question her hairstyle, that was until she had been given freedom of choice over it! Now her mind boggled. Long? Short and spiky? Shaved? She looked up at Eeth as he stood; so far this padawan thing was pretty awesome!

Eeth rose and went to the kitchen. "I will prepare some lunch," he said. "Make yourself at home in your new room. After lunch, I will show you around some areas of the main Temple, and then we will have a workout."

"Yes!" Raven said exuberantly and jumped around a bit on her way to her bedroom; a workout and some exploring was exactly what she felt like doing. She stopped at the door to her bedroom and looked back at Eeth, a thought occurring to her. She could not see him from this angle, but it was clear from the sounds that he was pulling things from the cupboard. "Want any help?"

"Thank you," Eeth said, pleasantly surprised at the offer. He had got used to doing things on his own, and if he was honest with himself, this was what came most naturally to him. That said, he appreciated it if children wanted to make themselves useful.

"Only if you have already unpacked all your things," he told Raven. "I will generally expect you to help with household chores unless you have more pressing duties – school work, for example. If you have finished unpacking, you might set the table. That way, you can find out where things are stored. I am preparing sandwiches; it will not take long." Fortunately, since he had had no idea what Raven's preferences were, his well-stocked cooler contained a number of vegetarian options. He settled on smoked fish and egg for himself, and grilled vegetables, cress and lettuce for Raven.

As it turned out Raven did not have a lot of things to unpack. Thus, she set the table and helped with the sandwiches. After lunch, Eeth had her change into a workout uniform and they went exploring while their lunch settled.

Eeth showed Raven to a few meditation gardens near their quarters that they might occasionally use. He then took her to the arboretum and up one of the spires from where he explained the Temple's layout to her. He bypassed the dining hall for now; they would go there tomorrow. Instead, he showed Raven the pool area, both the healing pools and the large pools with the towers and slides.

"Are these the pools that you'll let me visit unsupervised?" Raven asked. She did not see any signs saying that padawans weren't allowed in here, at least not from where she currently stood. In any case, it looked like a lot of fun! There were a few slides of various heights and lengths, and then there was a tower that was so high that she got a crick in her neck looking for the top. Just as she found it, though, two beings hurtled themselves off the top and Raven went wide-eyed. Now this was the sort of thing she was born to be doing.

"Yes," Eeth replied. "Your file says that you are a good swimmer, so I see no reason not to allow you in here. We will also have workouts here occasionally and practice the use of underwater breathing devices. However, some of the towers and slides have an age limit. I expect you to mind it."

Raven was still looking skyward, her mouth slightly open as she nodded at Eeth's instructions. Workouts in here would be so much fun. In fact, just about everything Raven had discovered about her new life as a padawan had been agreeable so far. She had more freedom, got to do better stuff and visit different places, to learn exciting things like working underwater devices!

This trend continued when Eeth took them to the gym where they were to work out. It was a standard gym, or so he had told her, but to Raven, it was still new, and therefore novel. Besides, they had it to themselves; a luxury that Raven had never experienced before.

The warm-up he led her through was all that she had come to expect from Eeth, that being, thorough, exhaustive and effective. When he was done, Raven was panting, but as was typical for her, she did not look like stopping any time soon. She stood where bade and unclipped her weapon. It would be the first time she used this particular lightsaber, and it prompted a question. "When do I get to build a real lightsaber?" Most padawans did not get to build a serious weapon for at least one or two years into their apprenticeship, but Raven hoped to be the exception to that rule.

"When you have acquired sufficient mental discipline to do so," Eeth replied. "Which is not the case yet, not by a long shot. Building a saber requires more than a certain degree of prowess at sparring. Above all, it requires the ability to establish and maintain a deep connection to the Force for an extended period of time, to surrender to the flow of the Force, but also control it. I will be sure to let you know when you have achieved the necessary skills. Now. Show me the most advanced kata you have mastered so far."

"I know up to the tenth, but I only just started on the eleventh. Now that I think of it, I did two classes on the eleventh. I was due for my third on Tuesday, but I guess I won't be making that now." She grinned, her delight over that change in her schedule apparent. It wasn't because Raven didn't like kata lessons, but because now she had them with Eeth instead.

Eeth nodded. "Alright, show me the tenth," he instructed, stepping back and leaving the floor to her.

Wordlessly, Raven ignited her saber at his nod and began running through the motions. It felt good to her and flowed together nicely; she was confident in each movement, and it showed. Not wanting to rush it too much — because this was something her instructors always corrected — she tried to take her time with it. Kata was not exactly her favourite thing in the world to do, but she did it nonetheless.

Eeth could tell that Raven was less enthusiastic about kata than about sparring, but she was reasonably advanced although a little sloppy in detail. Most initiates and recent padawans were; while in crèche, they simply did not receive the individual attention they would have needed to perfect their performance. Rectifying this was among his tasks as a master.

"Alright," he said. "Now, you seem to have no trouble with the offensive moves that this kata contains, but you are neglecting your stance when you are performing the defensive moves. This will make it far too easy for your opponent to make you stumble and fall. I will show you what I mean. Run through the second sequence again."

Raven was surprised at the criticism; she had thought that was pretty good. Oh well, if there was one thing she had picked up about Eeth during his classes, it was that he could be pedantically picky and would not tolerate less than her best effort. That in mind, Raven started going through part of the kata again as instructed.

"You are doing better this time," Eeth said approvingly. "Still…" He stuck out a foot suddenly and pulled her right leg away, causing her to stumble, although not fall.

"You are placing your foot like this," he explained to her while demonstrating what he meant. "At that angle, your stance is not stable. Try it like this." He shifted his foot slightly.

Blushing, Raven nodded at his instructions and started the kata again, this time using the footing he had shown her.

Raven had to admit the change had improved her defensive stances, without making her feel the movements were being exaggerated. She kept a close eye on Eeth, though; falling for the same trick twice was just not happening. Raven gathered the Force around herself, trusting it to guide her movements, and finished the kata. "Can I get a drink, please," she asked, motioning towards the water fountain in the corner.

"Of course," Eeth said. When she returned, he instructed: "Now try the stance I have shown you on all the defensive moves you know. I will attack, you block. Ready?"

"Ready," Raven replied, enjoying this part of their day. She gathered the Force, trusting it to lead her movements. At first, Raven had a little trouble adjusting to the new footing, but her confidence grew as they continued.

Eeth intended to work Raven rather hard that afternoon. He already knew that her fighting skills were good, but he wanted to test her stamina. So he had her block his attacks for a long time without a pause, just throwing in the occasional comment on her stance or the way she held her saber. He wanted to see how long she could go on doing this, and whether she tended to give up easily.

Raven was altogether too stubborn for her own good, especially so when it came to physical endurance, and although she was becoming fatigued, she had no intention of showing it. She glanced up at Eeth to see if he was tired. If he was suffering, he was not letting on! She continued to parry the blows that came her way, but inevitably, her muscles began to protest and as a result, her defence became sloppy. She stopped putting so much effort into blocking his attacks and instead began focusing her efforts on getting out of the way in order to preserve energy.

Eeth was pleasantly surprised at Raven's perseverance. When he saw that she was running out of energy, he called the exercise to a halt. "Do not sit down," he advised her. "Walk around the training room to cool down. And drink something, but slowly. You have done quite well. I am looking forward to working with you." Out of Eeth's mouth, this was a huge compliment.

About all Raven could manage in way of a response was a nod. She concentrated on regaining her breath and walked around the gym as instructed. She had been quite pleased with her efforts and allowed herself to revel in his praise. "Thank you, Master," she replied. Clipping her training saber to her belt loop, her eyes were drawn to the considerably heavier looking weapon that hung from his belt. "So, how old were you when you got to build your real lightsaber?" What he'd said earlier about mental discipline had stuck in her mind.

"One year into my apprenticeship, I think," Eeth replied after a moment's thought. "Which means that I must have been eleven."

"Eleven! Cool. I'm eleven now!" Raven did not want to sound over confident or too excited here, but at the same time she just had to know. "You think I'll be ready this year, too?" Raven knew it was a bit brash to bring this up on her first day as a padawan, but hell, if you didn't ask, you'd never know. Right? Right!

"You will be ready when you are ready," Eeth replied drily. "And that will still take a while. Now go take a shower. By the time we are home, it will be nearly time for dinner."

That was not the answer Raven had been hoping for. Frowning, she opened her mouth to say as much but reconsidered upon seeing the expression on Eeth's face darken slightly. "Yes, master," she acquiesced. There really wasn't anything she could do about it as ultimately the decision was up to Eeth. Also, and perhaps more pressing, there was the fact that they did not know each other yet. Raven was still cautious about how far she could push her master before he put his foot down. In her limited experience with him so far, that wasn't very far at all.

Half an hour later, Eeth and Raven entered their new quarters. Raven was still getting used to the fact that she was in this part of the Temple now. So much had happened in these last few weeks! Despite her fatigue – and really, the girl was beat after Eeth's workout session – Raven still had the energy to be excited about all of this. Okay, so this time she dispensed with checking their quarters for spice smugglers or bounty hunters, but that was about the extent of her tapering. She tossed her bag on the couch, sat beside it and started pulling off her boots, using her teeth to undo the knot in her laces. "Want to watch some holo with me?" she asked through a mouthful of bootlace.

Eeth frowned, both at her suggestion and her antics. "Padawan, we do not speak with our mouth full," he admonished. "Even when it's full of bootlace." He sat beside her and made to help her open the knot.

Raven spat the knot out and shifted back so that he could help her with it.

"You may watch the holo for half an hour, no more," Eeth then said. "Personally, I rarely find it worthwhile. The only thing that I occasionally watch is the galactic news but I usually get more succinct summaries on my terminal."

The look on Raven's face at hearing that was priceless. "How can you say holo is not worthwhile? Have you seen anything other than the galactic news?" She pulled off her boot, dropped it to the floor and then started on the other, giving it similar treatment. "The geographic channel has animal documentaries, and there are even a few animated channels." Raven summoned the remote to her hand and flicked on the power, quickly turning it to the documentary channel.

Eeth decided not to argue about this. If Raven wanted to watch animal documentaries, that was fine with him. He needed to check his messages, anyway. There was nearly always some Council business to deal with. Today turned out to be no exception. He withdrew to his room for a while to make a comm call and write a memo. He also needed to give a vote on an embargo proposal that had been brought before the Senate today but he decided to do that after dinner; he would want to read the proposal carefully, twice, before making a decision.

"Your time is up, padawan," he said, emerging into the common room. "Put your boots and bag away, please. And the next time, do this right away when you come home. When you are done, you may help me prepare dinner. After that, I will show you how the laundry machine works." With the amount of sweaty workout clothes a typical team of Jedi tended to produce, staying on top of the laundry was always a good idea.

"Already?" She looked at her watch and sighed. Oh well, it was almost over anyway. She stood and picked up her boots and bag. What was it with grownups and putting things away, anyway? Her creche master had been similar, although he had not really pushed that hard so Raven had never tried that hard either.

Dinner was a simple but tasty soup with baked bread that could be dipped. Eeth had let her cut some things up and shown her how to make the broth. It had been fun, and Raven found that she liked cooking. While they ate, Raven chattered as she had done pretty much non-stop since he had told her to help with dinner. "What are we going to do tomorrow?" It was Sunday tomorrow, and as far as she knew, they had nothing planned until Monday when her placement tests were scheduled. The notion of a weekend spent exploring Coruscant with Eeth popped to mind, but she held that query for now.

"I will have a look at your Force work skills and have a workout with you in the morning," Eeth replied. "I will also show you the cafeterias and the main dining hall where we will have lunch. In the afternoon, I will have some Council business to attend to. You may have that time to yourself. You might want to find the padawans' lounge."

Well, so much for exploring Coruscant. Apparently, Eeth was the sort of person who organised everything, not that this should really come as a surprise to her. The padawans' lounge was something she looked forward to, though, and so she did not ask about Coruscant. For now. "Orion told me about the lounge. He goes there every night," she told him. Raven felt she had an advantage, having had Orion around these past months, because she had learned quite a lot about what it was like to be a padawan from him.

After dinner, Eeth begrudgingly gave Raven half an hour more to watch the holo, and then an hour to read or do whatever else she liked. Unfortunately, the proposal he was expected to vote on was long and complex and he needed to give his vote by 10pm. Therefore, when he finally knocked on Raven's door to send her to bed, he had to ask her to meditate by herself.

"I will usually do this with you," he said. "But tonight, it is simply not possible. I am sorry. We will make up for it tomorrow morning. Meditate for twenty minutes, please. I will come to tuck you in."

Despite having been run ragged in the gym earlier, Raven felt too wound up to sleep, let alone meditate. "Do I have to? I've never felt so awake before in my whole life." Okay so that was a tad melodramatic… "Just another five minutes?" This sometimes worked on Lowfac if she begged him enough.

"No," Eeth said plainly. "It has been a long day, and you need to sleep. I realise that you are completely wound up, but that is exactly why I told you to meditate. A bit more self-discipline, padawan, please. I'll be with you in a half an hour and expect to see you ready for bed."

Raven frowned at the self-discipline remark, not aware at the time that the comment would develop into a bit of a joke between the two in the years to come. For now, though, she didn't push it. "Yes, master," she replied and went to change.

Typically, twenty minutes of meditation wasn't asking a lot, but Raven was finding it hard tonight. So much had happened and her mind was hellbent on reliving each detail over and over. She did her best and was seated on her bed dressed in a sleep shirt and underwear when Eeth entered.

It had taken Eeth quite a long time to get into the habit of tucking Lakhri in – in fact, it had taken quite a scolding from his own master for him to accept the responsibility for his padawan's emotional welfare, not only for his education and training. Now, he knew better, and he had a lot more experience at being a master than he had had then, but it still felt awkward.

"Well… goodnight, padawan," he said, tugging a bit at Raven's bedcover in order to straighten it out. "I am sorry that I was not able to meditate with you, but sometimes my Council duties are bound to interfere with my duties as a master to you. I will wake you at seven tomorrow so we can meditate together."

"Seven? But it's a Sunday! Don't you ever sleep in?"

"I do," said Eeth, unfazed. "On weekdays, I get up at six. And so will you."

"Wait a minute. So, you think holo is not worthwhile, and now you tell me that you like to get up at the asscrack of dawn each morning? I'm starting to worry about you." She gave him a grin to show that she wasn't entirely serious. Not entirely…

"There is no need for that," Eeth replied with dignity. "You signed up for a challenging career, after all. If nothing worse comes your way during your padawanhood than getting up at six, you will be able to count yourself exceedingly lucky. Now sleep well."

Raven smirked, but had to agree even if she thought his habits sounded rather military. "Goodnight, master." Raven reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing his cheek.

Eeth was completely thrown off his guard by this. He did not think anyone had ever kissed his cheek before… well, at least not anyone he was willing to think about right now! He shrank back inadvertently a little but caught himself. Raven probably expected him to react in some way, so he briefly returned the hug. He did definitely NOT consider kissing her, though.

Raven had expected him to react in some way, and it wasn't by shrinking back. Lowfac had always kissed her forehead or brushed her hair from her face or done something to demonstrate that she was loved. Maybe Eeth wasn't very affectionate? Raven certainly wouldn't hold that against him, but nor had she expected it when in hindsight, she probably ought to have. She did her best to hide her surprise at his reaction, filing it away so that she would not repeat her 'mistake', and accepted his hug.

Raven was tired even if her mind wasn't willing to admit it. She was excited about the adventures that lay ahead, excited that she'd been given the chance to become a Jedi Knight. Thoughts of exploratory missions and planet-saving floated around her mind until eventually her body won out and she drifted off to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Hi to all our readers, new and old! We are just touching base and letting you all know that, at this point, we are more than halfway through our story. Eeth and Raven certainly have a lot to learn about – and from – each other. It has been a blast from the past revisiting this, and we hope that you guys are enjoying reading it. If you have any thoughts or comments, please let us know in a review, as it always makes us smile to hear what people think. Okay, so, on with the story. Enjoy. ^^

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As promised, at seven o'clock on the dot the following morning, Eeth entered Raven's bedroom and palmed on the lighting. "Good morning, padawan," he said. "Time to get up."

Raven threw up her hands to block out the glare and met him with a sleep-bedraggled expression. It was half an hour before her usual time to wake, after all, and her body would take a couple of days to adjust. Force help her when it came to getting up at six! Mumbling something about having been transported from the Temple to Coruscant's Military Academy, which Eeth ignored, Raven dragged herself into the shower and got ready for the day. It felt good to dress in a padawan's uniform, so she took her time doing so. When Raven emerged half an hour later, she was fully dressed, boots, lightsaber and all. Her padawan braid had been done, somewhat inexpertly, but at least she had attempted it. She made her way out to the common room sat down on the floor, flicked on the holo and started rebraiding her hair; maybe it would look better on the second attempt.

Eeth had finished setting the breakfast table with an unusually sumptuous meal, including a stack of pancakes. He emerged from the kitchen into the common room to find Raven sitting on the floor with the holo channel on.

"Padawan, ask before you watch the holo," he said somewhat sternly. "And I will certainly not give you permission to do so first thing before breakfast. Do you need help with your braid?"

Raven jumped at his tone, the elastic she was using sent flying across the room. "Why do I have to ask? It's only the holo channel, it isn't dangerous." She stood, her hair now looking like a haystack again.

"You will need your concentration for our morning meditation," Eeth said coolly. "Watching the holo channel before that will not help you calm down and find your focus. On the contrary. Besides, simply doing as I tell you will usually be sufficient. We need not have a discussion on my rationale every single time. Now come to breakfast before the pancakes get cold. I will do your braid for you."

There was a lot that Raven could say to that, but arguing the point did not seem wise. Instead, she sighed and flicked it off; it had not been an entirely unreasonable explanation, not entirely. Their quarters were open plan, aside from the kitchen which was separated from the dining area. From the dining room table she could have clearly seen the holo! Raven decided against pointing that out for now. Her annoyance over being denied holo quickly dissipated at seeing the breakfast they had. "Did you make that?" she asked, taking a seat at one of the placemats set out. Raven wasn't a big eater, it was to the contrary, and something she and her creche master had argued over ad nauseam.

"Yes," Eeth replied. "Serve yourself." He helped himself to a pancake and wrapped it around a slice of cured meat and a few stalks of herbs.

Raven did the same, although she helped herself to far less food than Eeth had and bypassed the meat. When she had finished her last bite, she stood from the table, intending to stack away her plate and glass.

"Padawan, where are your manners?" Eeth, who was very particular about table manners, said sternly. "You do not get up from the table without having received permission, and not before I have finished eating either. Sit back down."

Raven frowned at this and sat back down, arms folded. She brooded for a minute before pointedly asking: "May I be excused?" in a quiet, albeit slightly miffed tone.

"No, you may not, since I have not finished my tea yet, as you might have noticed," Eeth replied firmly. He did just that, entirely unhurried, and then allowed his padawan to get up and help him clear the table.

Table manners might be important to Eeth but they weren't important to Raven; perhaps with a little pushing she could get him to relax those a little. Time would tell.

When they had finished cleaning up together, Eeth said: "Before we have a workout, I would like to look at your levitation skills. Do you find it easy to manipulate inanimate objects?" Eeth knew that some Jedi did, others did not. Most of them had some skills that came naturally to them and others that required a lot of practice.

Inanimate objects were, in fact, Raven's achilles heel when it came to the Force. The lack of life or energy in such things made it very hard for her to detect things like holes or inert objects. Being a new padawan, though, she wanted nothing more than to make Eeth think he had hit the padawan jackpot. She opened her mouth to tell him that she had no such problems, but closed it again; no point in lying, he was going to find out anyway. Thus: "I might suck at that, but only a bit."

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "You do not 'suck'," he said firmly. "You might not find it as easy as others do. That is nothing to be concerned about, per se. All Jedi have their strengths and weaknesses. Most have a weaker connection to living beings than you seem to have, for example."

He placed an arsei fruit on the couch table, took a seat in an armchair and motioned for Raven to sit on the couch.

"Lift it and make it hover about half a metre over the table," he said.

Raven tilted her head to one side, confusion evident at his stern words; in her opinion, she did suck at that sort of Force work. Oh well, there were more pressing issues and so Raven didn't think about that for now. The arsei contained some living energy, and so she reached out with the Force and did as he had said without much trouble.

Eeth nodded. "Alright," he said. He could sense that Raven had connected to the remnants of the living Force in the piece of fruit, as he had suspected she would. Next, he took a small wooden boat from the shelf; it had been crafted by Lakhri during a stay on Mahaveen which had required him to go to a local school. The tree it had been cut from had been dead for decades now; the remnants of living Force in it were minuscule. "Do the same thing with this boat," he instructed.

Raven pursed her lips. "Do I have to?"

"Yes," Eeth snapped. "And just for the record: when I am teaching, I expect to be obeyed, rather than questioned. Do as I told you."

Grumpy… Okay, so Raven was starting to see a trend developing here between Eeth's orders and his lack of patience for those who questioned them. Sighing, she reached out with the Force and attempted to connect with the boat; sensing it was going to be difficult and would require a lot of concentration on her part. As anticipated, it was both. When the thing lurched, Raven's reflexes kicked in, and she reached out and caught it in her hand. Holding it seemed to help, but it was still not a stellar effort, not by a long shot.

"Alright, so this is harder for you, unsurprisingly", Eeth commented. He stood up, returned the piece of fruit and the boat to their places and fetched a metal screwdriver. "Now try this one," he said. "It is completely inorganic. Sensing it will require you to adapt your technique."

Raven knew she had trouble with this sort of thing, and a screwdriver was about as inanimate and inorganic as an object got. She scrunched up her face, about to question Eeth, but thought better of it after receiving his last response to such interruptions. Brow furrowed in concentration, Raven reached out with the Force and connected with the thing. It felt cold. Sensing that coldness, the void in the Force, was how she usually managed to manipulate such things. It did not help at sensing them when hidden from her view, however. That was a nightmare that Raven was not keen on tackling.

Unfortunately for Raven, Eeth was not about to let Raven finish the exercise after a mere five minutes. "Close your eyes," he said. "I will blindfold you. I will then put the screwdriver somewhere in this room, as well as the piece of fruit and the boat. Try to find them through your sense of the Force."

Raven's nose wrinkled as he put a blindfold on her. This was going to suck and she really didn't want her new master to know that she was bad at this so early on. He might just change his mind and take her back to creche! These thoughts were not exactly conducive to acquiring the right frame of mind for such a task either.

Eeth did not only lay the objects he had mentioned onto different surfaces across the room; he also silently set a stool and a pair of boots in Raven's way, interested in finding out whether she would sense obstacles and circumvent them.

Utterly unenthused, and eager to get this over with so they could move on to something she was good at, Raven gathered the Force around her and stepped forward … right into the chair, toppling the boots. She lifted the corner of the blindfold and aimed a whiny expression at Eeth. "I don't want to do this. Can't we do something else?"

Eeth's lips pressed into a straight line. His patience with whining and lacklustre efforts was so thin as to be practically non-existent. He took a step towards Raven, grabbed her by the ear, bent her forward, clamped his left arm around her waist and delivered three impressive swats to her bottom with his right.

"Oww! My ear!" Unfortunately, Raven had just discovered that the only way to lessen the burn on her ear was to go where it led her, and ungracefully at that. In this case, she found herself staring at Eeth's trouser leg. Just when she was about to complain about the treatment of her poor ear, three of the hardest swats she had ever felt from a hand set fire to her backside, eliciting a pained yelp at each.

Without releasing his hold on his hapless padawan, Eeth snapped: "We will practice Force work until I give you permission to stop. And you, padawan, will stop whining and start making an effort. Is that quite clear?"

Raven squirmed in his hold, clearly unhappy about this but entirely unwilling to attempt fighting him. What she was sure of, though, was that she didn't want any more, so she stilled and answered: "Yes, master, clear." In her limited experience with Eeth, compliance had always been the safe route, and she really didn't want another one; her ear had forgiven him, but her ass was still not invited to that party.

"Alright," Eeth said, letting go of her. "This is going to take us at least an hour. Or longer. That will depend on how much of an effort you make. So you had better get to work, whether you like doing this or not. Later in your career, you might find yourself running from danger at Force-enhanced speed, and you will not want to smash head-first into an obstacle just because you've never bothered to learn avoiding it. Now put on your blindfold properly and try to find those objects."

The look Raven gave him was a mixture of indignation and self-pity. That had hurt, but not badly enough to have her all apart. She rubbed at the burn as he spoke, bouncing on the spot. Why she did this was a mystery; it did not lessen the pain yet it was strangely satisfying all the same. It was on the tip of her tongue to state that he might have just said so rather than swatting her, but again, she did not want another one and so she kept that comment to herself. The idea of another hour of this did not thrill her. Well, there wasn't anything that Raven could do about it, and so she picked up the blindfold that had come off when Eeth swatted her, slipped it on and got to work finding these stupid objects.

In actual fact, it ended up taking an hour and fifteen minutes for Raven to complete the tasks to Eeth's satisfaction. She had stumbled over a few more obstacles before finding the screwdriver each time. The boat and fruit were not as tricky. Towards the end of the lesson, she had tried cheating but was busted. What? It had just been a peek! Eeth did not agree, though, and had reprimanded her for trying it. Well, you had to be in it to win it.

"We will practice this at least every other day," Eeth informed Raven. "It is obviously an area that you have difficulties with, so you need the practice. You will not be able to progress to advanced Force-work techniques without having improved your grasp on the basics. Now fetch your gym bag and let us have a workout."

Raven groaned at this announcement but did as told without complaint. She did, however, complain to herself about having to do that again on Tuesday and about what a slave driver Eeth was while she packed her gym bag. When she emerged from her bedroom a few minutes later, most of the frustration had ebbed, and so she refrained from telling him what she thought of his schedule. Besides, they were about to get into some real work now, and Raven was excited.

Eeth made it a long session. He worked with Raven on the eleventh kata first and then focussed on her offensive techniques, showing her how to refine the execution of her slashes so they came in faster and more precisely. He finished the workout with a round of freestyle sparring. It was obvious that this was an area of Raven's training in which she excelled and that she enjoyed. She was persevering and worked hard without complaint. Eeth had little doubt that she would become an excellent fighter under his guidance.

They were both hungry after what had been a rather long morning.

"Take a shower and get changed," Eeth told Raven as they left the gym. "We will go to the dining hall and have lunch there."

Now that was more like it! Unlike the frustration she felt sensing inanimate objects, Raven had thoroughly enjoyed that and it showed in the smile she wore as she went to shower.

When Raven emerged fifteen minutes later, she was dressed in a clean uniform and still wore a smile as she followed Eeth out. It would never get old having the entire gym to themselves! Eeth had told her the day before that, unlike creche where there was only one dining hall, the main temple had a number of them but only the largest and most centrally located one of them was open around the clock. Given that initiates were not allowed in the main Temple unless accompanied by a master or knight, this would be yet another first for Raven, which of course, meant that she was excited about it!

Eeth explained the food dispensers to his padawan as well as the colour coding system indicating which food was suitable for which species. He let her pick her food while he filled his own tray.

Raven was so busy looking around that she wasn't really paying attention to the food she chose. Food was food, and as long as it wasn't full of animal parts, she didn't really care. Typically, her creche master had to fight to get her to eat much of anything. Thus, she knew to pile an acceptable amount of something lest she be sent back to remedy it.

Eeth briefly checked her choice over, mostly to make sure that it was adequately healthy. He then led her to a table in the corner where a few masters with recent padawans were sitting. This was more for Raven's benefit than for his; she might get to know some future classmates this way. Eeth greeted the other Jedi and introduced Raven. The masters nodded back, and the padawans stood up and bowed to him. Eeth pulled out a chair and invited Raven to sit down, taking a seat next to her.

Raven returned the bow and sat where Eeth bade. She looked at the different species brought together as master and padawan, noting that very few matches were the same. Despite being at a table full of other people, Raven found her thoughts lingering on her new master. "Where did you come from, and have you ever been back?" she asked him.

"I am from Nar Shaddaa," Eeth replied curtly while starting on his soup. "I left the place when I was four years old. I have been there on a few missions."

He was not comfortable talking about his youth, or even thinking about it, for that matter. Nor was there any need to ask Raven about her home world. He knew from her file that she was from Chine, a small rural planet, and that she had been brought to the Temple as a baby. She would have no memory of her birth world or family.

"Cool! Smugglers, bounty hunters, spice traders!" Raven's imagination was going crazy.

As was the padawan's sitting opposite her, yet he had said nothing so far; like most of them, for the first part of his time in the dining hall, he was happy to eat.

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "Nar Shaddaa is not 'cool'," he said evenly. "It is one of the most evil places in the galaxy, a hub for drug dealers, slave traders and criminals on the run from law enforcement. It also hosts slums that rival the worst of Coruscant's. Nothing about it is as picturesque or exciting as you seem to think it is."

"Everything is exciting to me," Raven countered. And she had a point there; being Temple-raised had the disadvantage that its younglings did not often get out.

Eeth was aware of that. He sighed. "I assume you will need to see more of the universe to get rid of that notion," he said. "And you will. Once you have settled in, I will take you out into the city frequently, and eventually on missions as well, of course."

"Yes!" The idea of getting to visit Coruscant, and eventually the entire universe, was thrilling. At eleven years old, Raven was unable to comprehend the diversity, dangers or complications that came from travelling the universe. It would take time and experience, both of which she would get with Eeth.

The Nautolan boy sitting opposite Raven gave her an exuberant grin at this, obviously sharing that sentiment. His master, a young human woman, smiled indulgently and gave Eeth a knowing look which he returned.

Unaware that Eeth had read her file inside and out, and wanting to keep the conversation about planets open, Raven told everyone: "I'm from Chine, it's a small green planet on the Outer Rim." She looked at Eeth. "Maybe, when we start going on missions, we can go there?" she suggested, using her spoon to shift the green goop around on her plate. It tasted as bad as it looked.

Eeth pondered this question for a moment. "It is considered acceptable to visit your home world," he finally said. "But it is usually only done several years into a person's padawanhood, after having had sufficient time to build a bond with one's new master and settle into one's new role. When you are fourteen or fifteen years old, I can consider filing a request to the Council, provided we are assigned a mission in the quadrant."

The notion of getting to see her home planet was exciting and scary all at once. Exciting because, like just about everything at the moment, it was new! Scary because what if her family did not want to see her? It was not uncommon for families of Force-sensitive children to have had a hard time with said child, and be glad to be rid of them. Oh well, she would find out in a few years.

"I'm from Alderaan," a human boy said. "I was almost two when I was brought here but I don't remember anything. How come you were already four, Master Koth? I thought that was too old to be accepted at the Temple?"

"Ordinarily, yes," Eeth said a little stiffly because this was really not a subject he was fond of talking about. "In my case, there was a debate since I had managed to develop some degree of mental discipline already. In the end, I was accepted."

Raven puffed up at hearing that; Eeth was already famous, and hearing that he had been a special case somehow made her feel more important for having the Force lead her to him.

Noticing how Raven was pushing around her food, Eeth gestured at her tray. "You may pick something additional if this does not appeal to you, but I still expect you to finish your plate."

That Raven was unhappy with her food was nothing new, but today she was particularly so as this actually tasted pretty bad. "Force, I don't want extra, it's not that. This is disgusting," she said, wrinkling her nose and prodding the goop with her spoon.

"Nonetheless," Eeth said firmly, "you will stop playing with your food. It does not taste any better when it is cold. You picked it, you eat it."

Okay, so that was a rule that Raven disliked possibly more than any others so far. Her chin came up and her stubbornness kicked in. She was about to tell Eeth that she wanted to get more of something else, really planning to ditch the green stuff in the process, when she spotted Orion and Deleon enter the dining hall. Jumping from her seat, she called to Orion, trying to get his attention.

Eeth looked up to see what had Raven so excited. "You may ask Padawan Orion and his new master to come over and sit at our table," he said with rare indulgence. "After that, I expect you to finish your meal. I do not want to have to tell you again."

"Yes, master," Raven replied because it was expected of her, even though she had no intention of actually eating the stuff. She had a plan, but that could wait. For now, she made her way through the crowd to meet Deleon and Orion, both of whom had already noticed her coming.

"Hi Raven," said Orion, grinning at her. "I'd been hoping to meet you. This suits you." He gestured to the tiny padawan braid. "How's your padawanhood going so far?"

"Awesome! Getting a gym all to ourselves is even better than you made it sound." Orion wasn't as 'in' to workouts as Raven was, which was probably why, but Raven ignored that fact.

She looked up at Deleon and, after remembering her manners and offering a bow, gave him a smile that was all teeth. "Would you like to join us for lunch?" she asked, motioning to the now almost full table.

"We will serve ourselves and join you, yes," said Deleon, amused at Raven's exuberance.

And soon Raven and Orion were exchanging stories of the past few days. There was so much to tell. So much that had happened that Raven didn't know where to start and the last thing on her mind was food.

Eeth exchanged a few friendly words with Master Deleon. While he did so, he continued to watch his apprentice and her still barely-touched plate. The food was certainly stone-cold by now, and Raven did not seem particularly inclined to finish it. Just as Eeth was particular about table manners, he was very adamant about finishing one's meal. He was not going to allow his padawan to throw food away.

After a few minutes, he leaned sidewards and put his hand on his padawan's shoulder. When she turned around, he inclined his head towards her ear and murmured: "Padawan, I have told you several times to finish your food. I do not like having to give an instruction more than once. If you keep trying to avoid obeying me, you might find yourself having that same dish for lunch every day for the next week. Your choice."

That wasn't a very tempting choice! Raven huffed and looked down at the now completely mashed pile of flattened goop on her plate. However, the way in which Eeth had spoken to her had the padawan disinclined to complain further. Frowning, she took a large mouthful of the stuff and forced herself to swallow it. It was bad enough not being hungry, let alone having to eat pond slime. She took a few more spoonfuls when Eeth was looking. Then, when he was suitably distracted talking weapons negotiations with one of the masters, she scooped the rest under her napkin. The way it was sitting upright made it look as if it were just a bit crumpled. Perfect.

Orion, on the other hand, made short work of his food. He was growing at an impressive rate right now, and he would take whatever he could get his hands on.

It did occur to Raven to ask him to eat her food for her, yet there was just no way to make that look inconspicuous.

After a couple of minutes, Eeth glanced at his padawan, finding that her food had magically disappeared from her plate. She was talking animatedly to Orion. Frowning, he pulled her plate towards him and found a sizeable portion of her lunch under her napkin.

"Padawan, just how dumb do you think I am?" he asked icily. He stood up swiftly, bowed to the others, said smoothly "Excuse us," grabbed Raven's ear and dragged her towards the exit of the dining hall.

"Wait, master! Ow! My ear!" Raven gasped. She was desperately trying to regain her balance and walk normally behind him but all she could manage was some sort of sideways crab walk.

Once they were outside the dining hall, Eeth pulled Raven into a quiet corner, let go of her ear and turned to face her.

The second he let go, Raven started rubbing at her ear; it burned!

"Let me make a few things clear," Eeth said coolly. "First, we are Jedi. We should be able to endure worse things than having to eat half a plate of food we do not particularly enjoy. Do you think you will be able to be picky about food on missions? Think again. Second, I will never force you to eat a particular type of food as long as we have a choice, but once you pick something, I expect you to empty your plate. Anything else would be a waste. If you want to avoid having to eat something you do not like, choose more carefully the next time. Third, when I tell you to do something, I expect you to do it. You may raise objections respectfully and politely, but once I confirm my instruction, you will accept and obey it. You will not ignore it, you will not stall, you will not try to deceive me. Am I quite clearly understood?"

Raven stood stiffly as he spoke, one hand massaging her poor ear, and looking utterly stricken. Could she honestly get away with nothing? Not only that, she felt bad for having tried it in the first place, which was new… "Yes, Master. Clear," she replied subduedly, her face hot with shame.

"Good," said Eeth sternly. "Now we will go back inside, you will have another helping of that dish, and you will finish it without further complaint. When you are done, we are going back to our quarters where you will meditate on obedience for half an hour. And in case you feel inclined to protest, you should keep in mind that having to finish your meal will decidedly be preferable to finishing your meal on a sore bottom." He pointed her back to the entrance of the dining hall, the expression on his face grim.

More? More! And of the same stuff! He had to be joking? Force, he wasn't joking… Raven was horrified and the expression on her face said as much. She had to admit that if her choices amounted to eating goop, or eating goop with a sore bottom, the former was clearly the logical choice. The problem was that both choices sucked. A hand reached back to cover her rear as she turned her back to the wall and edged past him; her ear no longer burned but that didn't mean that she wanted her backside to pick up the slack.

An Ishi Tib girl who had introduced herself as Harc gave Raven a sympathetic look as she sheepishly slid back into her chair, her cheeks pink with embarrassment. Apparently, there had been some sort of argument between master and padawan and Raven had come out of that second best. She opened her beak slightly at Eeth, which was her equivalent of a mild frown, but that was where her comradely support for her fellow padawan ended.

Raven was too busy pinching her nose and trying to finish her food to notice. She had given Orion a glance but he was studiously trying to avoid embarrassing her further by engaging the others in a conversation.

Eeth was watching Raven like a hawk, even as he answered another master's questions about the mission roster. Her padawan, Harc, was about to acquire mission eligibility soon and she was curious to hear what kind of missions they might be considered for. This was of interest to the others at the table as well.

"We left for our first mission last month," Bard, the boy from Alderaan, said. He was slightly older than the others at the table. "We escorted a diplomat to Nova Tampa. The most exciting thing that happened was when she was teaching me card tricks."

"Yes, well, she did not really need an escort," Bard's master said mildly. "It was more of a ceremonial thing. However, as soon as you finish your hand-to-hand combat class, your mission status will be upgraded. Let's see what kind of mission we get then."

Bard pulled a face. "If any of you want advice, don't take hand-to-hand with Master Rool," he said. "The guy carries a _cane_ to his lessons! I don't know what's wrong with him."

His master smirked a little at that, but did not comment.

Raven had to agree with Bard's assessment of Master Rool. She had never been swatted with a cane before, but knew that it had to seriously hurt, because why else would students be so scared of getting it? That he felt it necessary to carry the thing around with him during his classes did not strike her as entirely crazy, not entirely; Eeth did the same with his paddle, after all.

It was with great effort that Raven managed to eat her way through the additional blob of green stuff. By the time she had forced down the last mouthful, Raven had vowed to herself that she would never again be inattentive while choosing her meals, at least not while Eeth was around. That had been totally gross, and her expression said as much as she pushed the plate away as if it had personally offended her. In a way, it had!

Eeth once again excused them to the other masters and padawans. He had a Council meeting later and wanted to get Raven's meditation over with before he left. He did not quite trust her to perform it dutifully when he was not around. Therefore, he shepherded her to their quarters and pointed her to her room. "Meditation. Now," he said.

"Aw," Raven complained. She wanted to argue that having to eat another serving of that pond slime was punishment enough, but given that she was being sent to meditate on obedience, she did not think it wise to start questioning her master.

Unenthused, Raven dragged her feet to her room and lay down on her bed. Meditation had never come easy to the fidgety padawan and now was no exception. She pulled off her boots, and spun until her feet were resting on the wall and her butt was half on the bed head and half on her pillow. It was comfortable, so she closed her eyes and started doing as told.

About twenty minutes into her half-hour 'sentence' – and Raven did think of this as a chore – her mind began to wander. Would he really make her eat that same stuff for lunch every day for a whole week? She hoped not as it had been bad enough once! What if he took her back to the creche because she was too much trouble? He might. Then again, Raven wasn't sure if that was how it worked with a Force-willed master-and-padawan team. Her leg dangled over her head now while the other was still up against the wall. It was making her face all red, but it was comfortable and lying down was making her sleepy; it had been a big day.

Eeth was sitting in the common room, preparing for his meeting. He kept part of his attention on his bond with Raven, though. Thus, he could sense quite clearly that Raven was letting her mind wander, instead of meditating. And he was not amused. Five minutes before her sentence was over, he rose and made his way to Raven's room. Palming open the door, he stood in the doorway, folded his arms over his chest and asked evenly: "How is your meditation coming along?"

The leg that was up the wall joined the one that was dangling over her head and she rolled into a sitting position, her face still red and eyes wide at seeing Eeth standing in her doorway, arms folded. "Okay, I think," she said, being certain to hold her shields in place.

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "Meaning?" he asked.

Raven wasn't sure what to say to that, at least not without incriminating herself. She decided to go for something safe. "I'm sorry I disobeyed you." She tucked her feet under her butt and sat a bit taller.

Eeth just looked at her, stony-faced.

His silence was unnerving and his expression was making her squirm. What made it worse was that Eeth had not even acknowledged her apology, let alone accepted it. This was probably bad. Eventually it got too much for Raven and she started talking. "I meditated, but maybe I didn't do a very good job of it. It was taking forever!" she huffed. Was she completely suicidal? Apparently she was because even Lowfac would have gotten prickly had she tried to pull that one on him.

"So when you said it went okay, you were lying," Eeth said flatly.

"Uh, no, master." Raven started backpedaling because she knew what being caught out in a lie would get her. "I meditated! I did."

Eeth narrowed his eyes. "I have to admit I am curious," he said mildly. "Define 'meditation', please."

Raven looked pensive, not at all happy with the way this conversation was going. "Well you see, meditation is when one – Well what I mean is… When someone decides to take a clearer view on… No, it's when you clear out your mind and focus on one thing. You ordered me to meditate on obedience."

"I will accept that for the moment," Eeth said crisply. "The key word being 'focus'. Can you honestly tell me that you have been focussing on your duties as a Jedi padawan for nearly a full half hour?"

Raven chewed at her lip. She really didn't want to disappoint him so soon. That said, she also knew lying was not going to go over any better; she had already dodged a bullet and wasn't pushing her luck. "I did focus on your instructions, but I thought of other things, too! So, from a certain point of view, I did do as you told me to." There.

"In that case, I think you should spend another half hour meditating on your point of view," Eeth replied curtly, fixing her with a stern glare. He turned on his heel and left the room.

Raven stared at the door as it slid shut behind him, her mouth hanging open. Okay, so a trend was developing here; the more she tried to get out of doing something, the more of that something she ended up doing! Flopping onto her back, Raven let out a frustrated grunt and kicked at her bed frame.

Eeth could sense Raven's frustration, but she would have to learn to deal with it. More importantly, she would have to learn to meditate properly, or she would be a rather unhappy padawan.

Taking several deep breaths Raven finally managed to remain still for yet another twenty-five minutes. Reaching out with the Force, she attempted to contact Eeth. Tracing the faint tendrils of their training bond, she begged him for a reprieve. For Raven, punishment in the form of extra meditation was simply hitting below the belt and she had been at this for an hour now.

Eeth reappeared in Raven's doorway and once again leaned against the doorframe. "What is it, padawan?" he asked mildly.

"I've meditated for nearly one hour now…" She gave him a piteous look. "I'm sorry I disobeyed you. Can I leave my room now, pleeease?"

Eeth continued to lean on the doorframe, looking at her with something like an amused frown.

"Padawan, I did not make you perform this second meditation because I wanted an apology," he said. "I made you meditate because I wanted you to think about your point of view, which is obviously very different from mine. Have you done so?"

"Yes, master." Because at this point Raven would have confessed to assassinating the galactic president if he'd just let her leave the room. "I should have done as you said, not mostly done as you said," Raven confessed and fiddled nervously with her padawan braid.

"Yes, you should have," Eeth replied neutrally. "We will urgently have to work on improving your focus during meditation. The lessons in Force work and lightsaber training that lie ahead of you will require a lot of mental discipline. I do not see how you can possibly hope to master them if your attention span during an ordinary meditation does not exceed twenty minutes. Do you have any suggestions on how to deal with that?"

"No, master," she said flatly. "I can't help it. It's hard to keep focused on things I don't find interesting, but it's not like I don't make any effort." Raven avoided eye contact, choosing instead to focus on the floor. "I just did an hour of meditation, you know, this is more than I usually do in two whole days. I know it wasn't flawless but, well, I'm not perfect and I'm not good at everything!" she said, frustrated.

Eeth raised his eyebrows. He felt half-inclined to make Raven finish the hour of meditation but he did think that she had learned her lesson and he really needed to leave soon. Besides, he reasoned, she was a very new padawan.

"In fact," he said, "you did fifty minutes of meditation. And do not expect to be let off early another time because this is not how things work with me. Now, I do not recall ever having said that I expect you to be perfect. Nor do I blame you for having problems in this area. What I am saying is that these problems need to be resolved, and I was asking for suggestions. As you do not seem to have any, I will think about your meditation schedule adjust it accordingly. Your training aside, consider the hour of meditation about which you keep complaining the price for your abysmal behaviour in the dining hall."

He detached himself from the doorframe and straightened up. "I need to leave for my Council meeting now" he said. "You have the afternoon to yourself, within the usual limits. Do not leave the Temple, do not do anything forbidden and avoid areas that are off-limits to junior padawans."

He gave her a brief smile. "Be back here by six thirty," he said. "I will see you then."

Having the entire afternoon to herself, unsupervised! That was unheard of for Raven. Her smile grew a little wider as she thought about the things she might do. As it turned out, Orion was busy but he was going to the padawans' lounge that evening and arranged to meet her then, so Raven decided to visit her creche.

Everyone was happy to see her. Lowfac lifted her into a hug and kissed her head; he hadn't expected to see her again so soon. "Time off so soon! You are a lucky padawan," he said, putting her down.

"My master is in a meeting," Raven explained. "I thought I'd come and see everyone. Do you need help?" Raven felt very grown-up offering to help with creche.

Lowfac suppressed a chuckle; Raven was younger than several of his students, after all. He said nothing of this, though, and set her to playing with some of the younger children. He could always use help.

When Raven returned, it was almost six in the evening. She palmed open the door, unsure if Eeth was home yet or not.

Eeth returned a few minutes after Raven. He hung up his cloak, pulled off his boots and placed them against the wall. "Padawan?" he called, sensing her in her room.

Raven emerged from her bedroom carrying a string of beads that had been fashioned into a simple bracelet. "This one's for you. You have master Lowfac's group of four-year-olds to thank for it." She handed him the bracelet and held up her wrist to show that she too had been gifted with a 'present' from the younglings. It wasn't terrible, per se… Not terrible.

"Oh. Thank you," Eeth said, slightly perplexed. Nevertheless, he accepted the bracelet. Then he asked Raven to help him prepare dinner. They made rice rolls with various stuffings that could be dunked into Iridonian sweet-and-sour sauce.

"You are free for the rest of the evening," he said to Raven when they had cleared the table and washed the dishes. "But be back at eight thirty. We will perform our evening meditation then."

"Yes!" Raven hadn't had a lot of time to herself since becoming a padawan, and she was looking forward to meeting Orion at the padawans' lounge. Thus, she was out the door in a flash. It took her a little while to find her way and so when she arrived, the lounge was full of padawans already. She looked around, not recognising anyone, and then she spotted Orion. He was seated with a group who looked to be about their age.

"Raven!" Orion called, standing up and beckoning her over. He had made other friends by now, but Raven was still his best friend. He was looking forward to introducing her to the others.

"This is Kolam, Mayra and Bindi," he told Raven, pointing at a Zabrak boy, a human and a Twi'lek girl. "Guys, this is Raven, my friend from creche. She was taken as a padawan by none other than Eeth Koth."

Raven slid into their circle easily and gave each of them a smile as Orion introduced them.

"Whoa," said Mayra. "Isn't the guy, like, superstrict? He sure is intimidating! He's rumoured to have paddled a padawan for running in the corridor. I mean, really. Everybody does that!"

"Speaking of superstrict," said Orion, "what was the whole dining hall thing about?"

Raven tucked the 'no running in the corridors' comment away for future reference; Eeth's paddle hurt and she had thus far avoided copping it since becoming his apprentice. She looked at Orion and wrinkled her nose. "He forced me to eat that green stuff that looks like pond slime," she told him, drawing a frown from the pink Twi'lek who Orion had introduced as Bindi.

"Whatever for?" Bindi asked, honestly curious.

"He has" – she made air quotes – "an 'eat what you serve yourself' rule. I tried to get out of it and he busted me. So, he made me eat another serving of it and then I had to meditate on obedience for an hour! Bully." Raven didn't really think that, but bagging Eeth out a little felt cathartic.

Bindi covered an amused smile with her hand. That wasn't the worst outcome she could think of, but yeah, it was probably not a good idea to push someone with Eeth's reputation and she told Raven as much.

"Well, at least he didn't use his paddle on you," Orion said with a shrug. An hour of meditation, to him, didn't sound much; he had never had much difficulties in that area. "Just avoid the pond slime in the future."

"You don't say," Raven gave him a slightly put-upon look at his stating the obvious. "He threatened me with the same dish every lunchtime for a week." Her expression turned pensive.

"Maybe he was bluffing? Sometimes my master threatens punishment, but I can talk her around," said Kolam.

Raven didn't share Kolam's confidence there, yet she said nothing. Who knew, after all? Thankfully the conversation turned to other topics after this. All in all, by the time Raven arrived home that evening, she had spent a very enjoyable first night in the padawans' lounge.

"Hello, padawan," Eeth said, looking up from his reading when Raven came home. "Right on time." In fact, ten more seconds and she would have been late. But since she was not, Eeth had no reason to disapprove.

"Master," Raven greeted him through a yawn. Today had been a full day and she was feeling the strain, not that she would ever admit as much. She sat on the floor in front of the holo, took the remote and then paused. "What did you do?"

"I have been reading reports about the planned new weapons legislation," Eeth replied. "It is what I am responsible for in the Council at the moment. – There is no time left for you to watch the holo. I told you we would do our evening meditation now, and then you will go to bed. Tomorrow will be your placement tests. You need your sleep."

Raven sighed and dropped the remote. "Spoilsport," she griped, although if she was honest with herself, she was tired and the idea of going to bed was not at all unappealing. Oh well, she had Eeth to use as a scapegoat here.

Eeth had been called all manner of things in his life and 'spoilsport' was among the more harmless ones. Therefore, he did not rise to the provocation. He merely took the meditation mats to the balcony where the sun was currently setting and motioned for Raven to kneel opposite him.

He said: "Usually, we will use the morning meditation to work on our training bond. In the evening meditation, we will focus on the Force. That sounds simple, but it is not. It is a preparation for the very deep and long meditative trance you will have to enter in order to build your own lightsaber one day."

He smiled very slightly at this.

"If there is a way to build a lightsaber without the deep and long meditation part, please sign me up," she replied, shifting around to get comfortable.

"There is not," Eeth replied flatly. "That is one of the reasons for which I place so much emphasis on meditation. Out here, you might have an easier time focussing on the Force because its patterns surround you."

Raven knew that this was one aspect of her training that needed attention. So it was that she closed her eyes, focussed on the cool air and Force patterns as Eeth had suggested and did her best to refrain from fidgeting. She had already meditated for just under an hour today as it was, and this would be by far the most meditation Raven had ever done in a single day to date.

Eeth guided her into a meditative trance that would allow her to focus on the Force patterns surrounding them. From their vantage point, this included a sizeable part of Coruscant, but also extended beyond the atmosphere. How far she could go depended mainly on her focus and the depth of her trance.

The focus and depth Raven could achieve during meditation was generally surface level and far from deep. She did, however, persist for the entire half hour; a feat in and of itself, or so she would tell anyone willing to listen. When Eeth roused her from their meditation, she was feeling relaxed and sleepy, but she also felt a sense of connectedness that was not typically part of her meditations. Maybe it was Eeth? Maybe it was their location? Or both? She eyed him curiously but said nothing for now.

"Well, it is obvious that you can do this if you make an effort," Eeth said matter-of-factly. "Your skills will improve soon if you keep at it."

"A _lot_ of effort," Raven corrected him. She lay back on her mat and stared up at the sky. Speeders, speeder bikes and all modes of transport zoomed by above, leaving streaks of coloured light as they passed. This wasn't a sight the padawan had seen often as creche younglings were not taken out of the Temple a lot, and when they were, it was mostly through the day on excursions and the like.

Eeth let her be for a few minutes. Finally, however, he said: "Go inside and get ready for bed. You need your sleep."

"Can't I sleep out here?"

"It will be too cold tonight and the meditation mat will feel quite hard after a while," Eeth replied. "Besides, the outside air on Coruscant is not exactly healthy. Go inside, please."

Those were reasonable enough answers. Raven stood, picked up her meditation mat and stretched tall, a yawn escaping as she did so.

Five minutes later, Raven emerged from her bedroom, dressed in a sleepshirt and underpants. She had brushed her teeth and her hair was unbraided. Despite being tired, Raven was still excited about being in her new quarters for the second night and didn't want to go to sleep, so she started a conversation. "What if I can't do it?" she asked out of the blue. Then, realising that Eeth would have no idea what she was talking about, she elaborated: "Meditate long enough to build my lightsaber. Maybe I could just keep this one instead, or get someone else to make it for me." The former wasn't ideal, but the latter had promise.

"Of course you will be able to do it," Eeth replied firmly. "Padawan, I vowed to help you become a Jedi, and that is exactly what I am going to do. I will support your efforts as best I can. If I feel you are lacking motivation, I will provide some. The more you apply yourself, the faster you will make progress. It is as simple as that. "

"Maybe I can try the moving kind," Raven commented. Eeth had mentioned that not all meditation had to be the sitting down sort, after all.

"Yes, we will get to that," Eeth replied. "It works better for some people and worse for others. Not every padawan who is too restless for sitting still during her meditation really achieves better results with the moving type; it is too distracting for some. We might try it out tomorrow. For now, I think it is time for you to go to bed."

Raven hoped that she wasn't going to be one of those who found it distracting because sitting still was an issue! She looked at Eeth when he announced that it was time for bed and wrinkled her nose. It was a quarter past nine; not terribly early, but neither was it late. Still, Raven wanted to talk more than she wanted to sleep and so she decided to keep him talking: "Which one do you like best?"

"It depends," Eeth replied. "When I have had a strenuous day of negotiations and have not had a chance to stretch my legs, I prefer moving. Else, the kind where I kneel or sit still is fine. Now it really is time to go to sleep. I will wake you up at six, after all, and you will need to be well-rested for your placement tests."

That made sense to Raven. Unfortunately, it felt like she spent her entire life in a constant state of fidgety restlessness. It was going to be hard for her to learn to calm and quiet her mind to the degree that Eeth was talking about.

Out of questions, the padawan went to her bedroom and climbed into bed. "Six? I still think you're crazy. Anyway, goodnight, Master," she said, kicking the covers off her feet, but not yet wrapping herself up. After the last time, she wasn't about to kiss him goodnight, but she did reach up and hug him.

Eeth returned the hug, albeit a little stiffly, and tucked the covers around Raven's shoulders. "Goodnight, padawan," he said. Only those who knew him very well would have been able to detect a tiny hint of affection in his voice.


	7. Chapter 7

"Good morning, padawan," Eeth said, switching on the light. "It is time to get up."

Okay. So, over the past eleven years as an initiate in the creche, Raven could safely say that she had never actually 'heard' light before. At six in the morning, however, she was willing to accept anything as possible! She squinted and threw up both hands to block out the glare. "Ug, it's just a drill. No real fire," she mumbled unintelligibly. Raven had woken at seven thirty every morning for the past five years, and although she realised that some adjustments would have to happen, she had hoped it could wait a little longer… Perhaps another hour or so.

Eeth shook Raven's shoulder slightly to wake her completely from her dream. "No, this is not a drill," he said firmly. "I am really here to wake you up. So please do."

Raven entered a short tug of war over her pillow only to lose the fight in favour of scratching at tired eyes. It wasn't a dream! Dammit. She sat on the edge of her bed and stretched, only to flop backwards onto her bed. "I have an idea," she said to the ceiling, but decided against voicing it upon noticing that Eeth was still there, his expression now somewhat impatient. Fine, then, if that was how he was going to be about it. Raven rolled out of bed and thumped onto the floor melodramatically. Slowly, she backed herself up the wall; this sucked.

"A bit more self-discipline, please," Eeth said tersely. "I am expecting you in the common room in fifteen minutes, showered and dressed." He turned and left Raven to the arduous task of waking up and opening her eyes completely. Self-discipline was Eeth's favorite word. His former padawan, Lakhri, made no end of jokes about it. They tended to leave Eeth quite unamused, with Lakhri rolling his eyes.

"A bit more self-discipline," Raven mimicked silently to Eeth's retreating back. She wasn't happy about getting up this early and it showed. She dragged herself into the shower. The water seemed to do the trick and by the time she was dressed and ready, Raven felt human, almost.

Having made the mistake of going directly for the holo yesterday, Raven slumped into their couch and rolled into a ball. This wasn't bad at all, it was comfy and warm, just like her bed.

Eeth emerged from the kitchen, a couple of plates and cups in his hand, to find Raven on the couch. He frowned, set the dishes onto the dining table and went to stand before Raven.

"Padawan, when I tell you to join me in the common room, I do not mean for you to continue sleeping," he said sternly. "What I expect for you to do is to greet me properly and offer your help with setting the breakfast table. Up you get."

Raven unraveled herself and sat up at hearing Eeth's tone. She stared up at him, her expression piteous; it was probably not a good idea to start her day in his bad books which she had managed to do two days running now. Huffing, she got to her feet, offered a curt bow and said: "Good Morning, master. Can I help with breakfast?" There was a hint of sarcasm in her tone, but only a hint; truth was, she had been a bit impolite and she did like to help. Today, however, she was tired and grumpy.

"Yes, preferably without an attitude," Eeth replied, raising his eyebrows.

The slightly haughty expression evaporated at his comment, and Raven huffed again.

"You may finish setting the table," Eeth said. "I am currently toasting some bread. Would you like some tea? Or do you prefer milk or water?" On weekdays, he tended to prepare a more basic breakfast than he had done yesterday, without many options. He had little idea of Raven's eating and drinking habits so far.

"Water, please," she answered quickly; asking for tea was a mistake she wasn't going to repeat for a while. Given that Raven was still getting used to where everything was in her new home, the task took her a little longer than it would usually have done, but eventually the table was set and they were eating. Or more like, Eeth was eating and Raven was absentmindedly picking the butter off the top of her toast. Her placement tests were today, not that she was nervous about them or anything. She wasn't! Eesh, it was just to put her in classes, nothing more.

"Padawan," Eeth said mildly. "Eat at least a slice of toast. I will not allow you to take your tests on an empty stomach."

After their last discussion over her food habits, Raven was disinclined to argue with him. Thus, she picked up the piece of toast and took a bite without complaint. "When are the tests?" she asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"At eight fifteen," replied Eeth. "Enough time for us to meditate before you leave. We can try whether moving meditation works for you if you feel up to it."

This grabbed her full attention. "I'm up to it," she told him. Because anything was better than trying to sit on her ass for half an hour.

"Alright," said Eeth. When they had cleared the table, he led her to an empty part of the common room and positioned himself next to her. "Pick a short sequence from a kata that you are familiar and comfortable with," he instructed. "The sequence should be no longer than three or four moves. And it should be one that you are able to perform in your sleep."

"Okay, the first sequence from the ninth kata." This was Raven's strongest kata. She knew that she could perform the moves blindfolded and on a tightrope if the occasion called for it. Raven zoomed through the first four moves of that sequence, making lightsaber sound effects for good measure. Then, she paused. "Do I get to use my saber while I'm doing this?"

Eeth, who had watched her with a slightly amused smile, shook his head. "Not at this point, and not in our common room. And you do not have to perform the moves this fast. It is not a competition. Perform them at a speed that feels right in the Force and matches the harmony of the pattern, then repeat them over and over. While you do this, try to focus on nothing but the flow of the moves and the Force. I will join you, synchronising my moves with yours. If it works out, it will help to enhance our bond. If it does not – well, we will have to do it another way the next time."

"So I do the moves but make them slow." Raven frowned. She didn't think it was possible to make kata boring, but he'd gone and done it.

"I did not say slow," Eeth said patiently. "I said at the speed that feels right to you for this particular kata. Go ahead. Or would you prefer to just kneel and meditate the way we did yesterday?"

Not as fast sounded like a euphemism for slow to Raven. Still, she wanted to try this and didn't think being a smartass was going to win her any favours. "No. I'll try it." And Raven did. She began going through the motions, not at the pace she had first tried, but at a rate that felt more subtle, and suitable for meditation. The movements had a nice rhythm to them, and soon Raven had closed her eyes.

Eeth waited for a moment until he sensed that she felt comfortable with what she was doing, then fell into her movements, perfectly synchronising his moves with hers. Immediately, her Force presence became clearer to him. There was a sense of harmony to the exercise that he liked and that usually worked a great deal towards strengthening the beginnings of a training bond.

Raven felt his presence gently tapping at the edges of her consciousness and concentrated hard on keeping the connection open. It seemed a lot easier to achieve this time, and she was finding the whole experience enjoyable. That said, it was obvious that this would be one area where it was simply a case of "practice makes perfect". She tried not to be so hard on herself; after all, it was only her second attempt at this sort of meditation.

Eeth was satisfied with the effort Raven was making, although she was still trying too much to achieve something, instead of just letting go. He told her as much when they were finished.

"But I think you are making progress," he concluded. "I am looking forward to sharing a fully established training bond with you. It is really something special."

"It feels special," Raven agreed. She wouldn't know how to explain how it felt special to anyone who asked, though, which was probably why Orion had struggled when she had asked him about it. "How long does it take to build a training bond?" Raven asked.

"Training bonds develop over time," Eeth replied. "It is impossible to determine the point at which it is not going to become any stronger. Maybe there is no such point. It usually takes a master and a padawan between two and three years to be able to talk to each other through their bond, though. A big advantage on missions."

Raven thought about that. Two years felt like a lifetime away. She was very much a 'now' sort of personality and found waiting for things painful! "What can you tell me about the placement tests?" Raven said, changing the subject as her mind had started to think about her next task.

"As I told you before," Eeth said patiently, "the test are designed to find out which padawan classes are appropriate for you. You will have to answer questions on the subjects you have been taught as an initiate. Maybe you will need to write an essay. Nothing you have to be afraid of. Normally, the results come in the evening of the same day. You will then be assigned a few mandatory classes and be offered a few electives for this term. Some of the subjects that you will study as a padawan are similar to those you had as an initiate, but there will also be a few new ones that are geared towards preparing you for field service, like Diplomacy and Treaty Negotiations, Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement, or the languages and cultures of the galaxy. Just do the best you can in the test and you will be alright. As always, I expect you to make an effort, not to achieve a particular result."

"Maths and physics are going to bomb," Raven cautioned him again. "Besides, I'm sure that every teacher I've ever had for those subjects has hated me, so if I'm stuck with one of them grading me they'll fail me without even reading it." That was not true, but she felt it would aid her plight to add it in. Raven also thought it a good idea to lower her master's expectations of her. Those two precautions, combined with not exactly trying very hard, would surely land her safely in the basic level classes for those subjects. It was a solid plan.

"Padawan," Eeth said firmly, "I doubt very much that any of your previous teachers 'hate' you. And I doubt even more that they would let their personal feelings towards you influence the grades they give you. In any case, the test will not be graded, it will simply be evaluated. And the evaluation will be performed by teachers from the padawan section of the academy who do not know you yet. The same thing goes for the teachers who will teach your courses. If you had problems with maths and physics, this is a chance to start over. I do not want you to approach any of these tests with a negative attitude. You are by no means stupid, and there is absolutely no reason why you should have poor results in any of the subjects covered."

"I know," Raven sighed. She had expected a response like that, after all. "Where do I go to take these tests anyway? Are they held where my normal classes are?"

Eeth stood up and walked over to the terminal, checking the message about Raven's placement tests that he had received the night before. "Your tests will be held in room 4015," he said. "That is in the junior padawans' wing of the academy."

"4015 – I think I can find my way…" Getting lost would help her to avoid taking the tests, but it was also a band-aid solution and so it was discarded.

"If you are unsure about your way," Eeth said, noticing her expression, "I can come with you. I have to walk in that direction anyway." He looked at his watch. "Time for you to go."

"Alright," Raven replied. She still wasn't happy about this.

It did not take them long to reach the room. "Well, here we are," Eeth said, stopping in front of the room where the tests were going to be held. "Try to do your best - even in maths and physics. Come home straight after the tests, please. We will have lunch at home today."

"Yes, master," Raven replied, unenthused. She stood outside for a while longer, but there was no point stalling; it wasn't like she was going to get out of this.

A young Twi'lek instructor was waiting for Raven already in what was a small meeting room, rather than a classroom. Raven was the only brand new padawan and therefore the only student to take the test.

"Padawan Trebeck?" the women asked. "I am Shanaya Paleen, a teacher in the junior padawans' academy. Please take a seat. There will be a number of tests for you to take today. They are bundled into three sets, each of which will take approximately an hour. You will be allowed to take a break between sets. Do you need to use the restroom or fetch a drink of water? If so, please do it now because there will be no time during the test."

"Three hours, really?" Raven groaned. "I don't suppose there is any way I can convince you to just put me in the basic level class for everything and be done with it?"

Shanaya laughed. "Want me to take that proposal to your master?" Of course she knew who the girl's master was. Temple gossip was fast. Even if the test file had not mentioned the details, Shanaya had been told by several people over the course of the past two days that Eeth Koth had taken a human girl as his padawan. And she supposed that Raven knew as well as she did what Eeth would have to say to her 'great idea.'

Raven sighed in defeat. "No, I guess not," she said and flopped into the chair. This was going to take forever!

And it did. As fate would have it, the mathematical section was last, and Raven's patience for this was already running thin despite the two breaks Shanaya had given her. She stabbed at the screen with her stylus, the heading 'Algebra' scrolling across the it. Raven sighed again, and this time, she felt her teacher's eyes on her. Not in a disapproving manner, but probably more out of interest. Shanaya most likely didn't have a problem with maths, or discipline, or anything else; she was a knight, after all. Raven looked at the questions and decided on a strategy: she would answer the easy questions and anything that looked hard she would just guess. By the looks of the questions, that would equate to answering two and guessing one. Given that Raven had zero luck with this subject, that pattern should ensure that her results would be low enough to keep her in the most basic class, but not so low that she had healers testing her for learning disorders. Yeah, it was a fine line there.

A little under an hour later, Raven finally finished and stood to stretch.

"Alright," said Shanaya, giving her a smile. "If you're sure you've done all you can, you may leave. The results, along with your list of classes and electives, will be send to your master's terminal tonight. Have a good afternoon."

In the meanwhile, Eeth had had an appointment with a Senate committee. He returned home at about the time that Raven's tests were over, carrying a box of exotic food he had bought from one of the food vendors on his way. He thought Raven would probably find it exciting. Most new padawans did; it was a change from what they knew from the creche.

"Hello, padawan," he said when Raven entered their quarters, looking up from where he was placing spicy vegetable fritters onto a plate. "I see you survived your tests."

"Barely," she said melodramatically, and gave him a curt bow in greeting. She eyed the box curiously. "I've never seen anything like that before. What is it?" There was a fruit that looked like something between an apple and an apricot, and the fritters Eeth was putting onto plates looked tasty.

"I brought it from a Senchi food stall," Eeth replied. "They are good cooks."

"Oh. Maybe you can take me there sometime?" Raven asked.

"When we next go out into the city," said Eeth. "Maybe next weekend."

"Yes!" Raven said excitedly. The idea of going into the city was truly thrilling! "What sort of things can we do in the city, other than eat?" she wanted to know. Raven could count the amount of times she had been into Coruscant on her hands, so this was definitely something she wanted to know more about.

"We could visit the Senate," Eeth said. "Or the markets. There is also a martial arts exhibition in the Historical Museum that we could look at."

"Martial arts exhibition? Neat! I want to see that." Raven said excitedly. She eyed a bowl of greenish-blue mush cautiously. After yesterday's threat about eating green goop for a week, Raven was now decidedly more careful with what food she served herself.

"Be careful with that one. It's hot," Eeth said, having noticed her eyeing it.

Raven nodded and put a teaspoon-sized blob on her plate. There, that was safe! She could eat a teaspoon of just about anything without too much trouble. She piled on a piece of each fruit, too. This looked good. Besides, he might have the entirely unreasonable expectation that she finish what she served herself, but he did say that he would never force her to eat food she didn't like. Tentatively she dipped her finger in the greenish-blue stuff to taste. "Whoa. HOT! hot hot 'ot 'ot!" she said while fanning her tongue and reaching for some juice.

"If you eat it together with the fruit, it is quite pleasant," Eeth advised her. "And just for the record, this is considered to be the hippest food on Coruscant at the moment."

Raven smirked at his terminology. The last word she expected Eeth Koth to have in his lexicon was 'hip'. He was full of surprises.

He was, in fact. right; the stuff was much nicer with the fruit. The food was good and it got her to thinking about going into the city again, because Force only knew what was out there that she had yet to discover; EVERYTHING! "So, next week we can go to the martial arts display, then?" Raven hedged, wanting a solid answer and a set date.

"Yes," said Eeth. "We could go and see the exhibition on Sunday. They even have a display of ancient lightsabers. It ought to be interesting."

"Ancient lightsabers! Cool. They'd be the ones you used as a padawan, then?" Raven said cheekily.

"More like the ones Master Yoda used as a padawan, actually," Eeth replied with a straight face.

Yep… One serve of balloon, heavy on the lead, thought Raven at hearing his response to her joke.

Eeth pointed to a bowl of brownish stuff sprinkled with red. "Are you sure you do not want dessert?"

Raven eyed the brownish stuff carefully. "Is it chocolate?" she asked, spooning a small amount onto her plate.

"No, it is a Senchi spice called cinga," Eeth replied. "It is a bit like chocolate, though. Very rich."

When they had both finished eating, Eeth asked Raven to wash the dishes while he dried them and put them away.

Raven did so without complaint. The task was not one that she was used to as creche had its own dining hall, and so it was kind of novel. When they were done, Eeth set her to fold a basket of bed linens. Then, he asked her to sweep the balcony while he scrubbed down the kitchen counter. Raven was Temple-raised, therefore, she was used to being put to work, but task after task after TASK? Unfair. The padawan took the broom but did not yet start the job. "You do know that we have cleaning droids, right? Shouldn't we be," she paused for dramatic effect, "oh, I don't know, doing something more Jedilike?"

"This," said Eeth sternly, "is Jedilike. We are trained to serve, padawan. We will not be able to do our duty if we get used to being waited on hand and foot by droids. That will make us lazy and complacent. A lot of your future work will comprise of menial tasks and I want you to perform them without complaint. Therefore, consider your chores good practice."

Raven crossed her arms, the broom handle wedging under her armpit and sticking out abruptly as she did so. "I'm not lazy. Droids are there for a reason," she shot back. His rationale might have been sound, but Raven did not want to admit that.

"You are there for a reason, too," Eeth replied firmly. "And that reason currently has little to do with fighting Sith Lords and everything with becoming a hard-working, dutiful apprentice. Now sweep the balcony."

"More like a hard-working, dutiful slave. The Republic has laws against this sort of treatment, you do know that, right?" Raven griped.

Eeth glared at her. "I know for a fact," he said in a dangerously quiet tone of voice, "that 'this sort of treatment' is vastly preferable to the sort of treatment you will receive if you continue arguing my instructions. Will you take my word for it or do you want to test me on this?"

Did she want to test him? No, not really. Still, she wasn't pleased. Raven snatched up the broom and stomped off to do as told, all the while muttering about having a slave driver for a master.

Eeth came after her in two fast strides, grabbed her by the ear, bent her forward and applied a hard swat to her bottom.

"Ow, my ear!" Raven complained. However, it was quickly forgotten about when the pain exploding across her backside trumped it. "Ow!" she hissed, the hand that had been clutching at her ear shooting back to rub.

"Lose the attitude," Eeth snapped. "Now. If you want to spend the entire afternoon doing chores, and doing them with a sore bottom, you are going about it the right way."

Raven wasn't happy about this, but she was decidedly unhappier about having been swatted. It hurt. Okay, so it wasn't the worst but it still wasn't something she wanted a repeat of. Resigned, she gave the only answer that would ensure it remained that way, namely: "Yes, master." And the moment he let her up she started sweeping.

Eeth left her to her task and went to the kitchen to perform his own. When Raven came to return the broom, he told her: "Fetch your gym bag. I booked us the obstacle course today."

Despite still sulking over having been swatted, Raven was excited at the announcement. "Yay!" A workout always cheered her up, and this obstacle course sounded like it had promise! She was dressed and ready in no time at all, and soon they were en route to gym room 8A.

Raven walked beside Eeth quietly. This was highly unusual as typically you could not shut her up. She was no longer sulking; now she felt guilty at having complained over something as stupid as some dumb chores. "Master?"

"What is it, padawan?" Eeth said quite gently. He never held a grudge. He tended to punish minor misbehaviour on the spot and then consider the slate clean.

Nor did Raven, well, not really. Did the occasional sulk count? She looked up at Eeth, noting that he didn't look pissed. It was hard to tell sometimes as Eeth was difficult to read, especially so for someone who was just getting to know him. "Sorry that I complained. I feel bad about that," she confessed, making sure that he was aware that this apology was as much about her as it was for him.

"Apology accepted," said Eeth, giving her a brief smile. He was fine with using punishments as a deterrent but obviously, some degree of insight was the prefered outcome.

Raven was a deep thinker. She tended to hang on to things and found it hard to let go, which could be both a good and a bad thing. Eeth's acceptance had been sincere, and she smiled. "I guess I expected to be doing all important stuff now that I'm a padawan." The confession was truthful. Naturally, Raven wasn't stupid enough to think that her life would be void of chores, but apparently she had had expectations that even she hadn't been aware of until then.

"You will," Eeth said mildly. "But in order to be able to do so, you have to learn many things. That is why padawans spend a lot of their time on lessons, chores and training. We will eventually go on missions, and once you are a bit older, missions will even take up a fair amount of your time. But you will have much, much better chances of making a difference when you have learned to do your duty, however unappealing it might appear. More often than you might be able to imagine right now, you will have to subordinate your own wishes to the needs of the moment. You will also be much better at the 'important stuff' once you are a proficient fighter, speak several languages, have learned about different cultures, their customs and political systems and so on. And we, as a team, will work far more efficiently when we know what to expect from each other, are able to trust each other blindly and have a bond that is strong enough to communicate through. Be patient. This is only your third day."

"Yes, master. I know. I will," Raven replied, and she really would try to be more patient. Raven was relieved he seemed to get it, though. "So, was it the same for you when you started? I mean, did you hate waiting for everything to happen?" she wanted to know.

Eeth paused for a while, considering the question. "No," he finally replied. "I'm not the type to spend my time wishing things were different from what they are. Besides, I trusted my master to know when the time would be right. I simply focussed on my training, and the first mission came around sooner than I had expected. It was extremely boring, though. I have to warn you that first missions often are."

Eeth's comment on the trust he had in his master was a bit of a slap for Raven. Did she trust Eeth? Yes, as much as any of her superiors, that was. Raven guessed that would change with time. She felt a bit like she was letting him down, though. "Sorry that I'm not what you hoped for," she said quietly. Raven wasn't generally an insecure sort of kid, but being guided to a master of Eeth's caliber meant she had to live up to expectations. Whose expectations, exactly, she wasn't sure. Her own, his, the Orders? Probably all of them.

Eeth stopped right in his tracks and turned around on his heel, having Raven nearly bump into him.

"Padawan," he said solemnly. "I did not say that. You wanted to know how I felt about this when I was your age, and I gave you an honest answer. I did not mean to imply that I had been expecting my padawan to be exactly like myself, nor did I ever remotely think along these lines. You have your flaws, as much as I had mine – and still have them. Yours are different from mine. The fact that impatience is among yours, and not as much among mine, only means that you will have to work on that specific problem while I had to work on others when I was your age. Nothing more, nothing less. It does not make you an insufficient padawan. But you will still not find me indulging your flaws and talking around them because that is not the way to help you deal with them. Do you understand what I am saying?"

"Yes," Raven replied evenly. "I get it, really. But, being your padawan is kind of a big deal, is all." What Raven wasn't saying was that she was beginning to entertain a little self-doubt. What if Rayan Haysh had been right? What if she wasn't good enough? She would have to find out more about Eeth's last padawan, Lakhri.

Eeth could only guess at Raven's thoughts but he knew what she meant by her statement. In a way, she had it harder than it had been for Lakhri. When Eeth had taken the boy as his padawan, he had been a fairly new, albeit talented and exceptionally committed, knight. Now, he was a member of the Jedi High Council. The fact that Raven had become his padawan would guarantee her a lot of attention, whether she wanted it or not.

"Being my padawan," he said calmly, "might be a big deal in the eyes of your peers but it definitely does not mean that I expect you to be perfect. I merely expect you to do your best."

He opened the door to the obstacle gym he had booked. "And in this case," he added, "I think you will quite enjoy doing so." Because this obstacle course included all the things he had found Raven liked and excelled at.

Eeth ran Raven through another strenuous training session, after which they returned home about half an hour before dinnertime. They had a quick dinner of sandwiches. Since she had no homework yet, he once again gave her the evening off and she left for the padawans' lounge.

Which Raven was thrilled over. She was still on a high from the obstacle course which had been the most fun she'd had working out in, well, in forever! She was practically vibrating by the time she arrived at the padawans' lounge that evening. This time, Raven was early as the place had been easy to find the second night in a row. Finding the same seats Orion and his friends had chosen yesterday, she sat to wait for them to arrive.

Bindi came in first. Raven recognised the pink Twi'lek and smiled when she spotted her and came over. They talked, and one by one the lounge began to fill up with padawans.

Orion arrived last. "Sorry," he said. "I've been held up by my master. He made me redo my Huttese homework and then he made me clean my boots." He pulled a face.

Raven could sympathise with the chores part, after all, Eeth had given her an afternoon full of them! Or so she would have complained to Orion…

"How did your placement tests go?" he asked Raven. "Do you know what courses you've been assigned yet?"

"Long and boring. Honestly, three hours. I think I died." Raven said melodramatically. "The good news is that I don't think I'll have too much trouble with my classes. I did my best _not_ to do my best, if you know what I mean. I hope it was enough. I really don't want to disappoint my master with crappy grades."

Orion frowned. "Yeah, let's just hope he doesn't find out you didn't do your best on the test," he said. "If my master did, he'd probably blow his stack. And that's saying something." Master Deleon was usually serenity personified!

"I'm sure my master would have a fit if he found out, too. But there is just no way he can. Unless they develop some sort of meter to test for it, I can't see how he could find out."

"He might just ask you," said Bindi.

Mayra agreed, nodding his head. "She's got a point. Master's are horribly perceptive about stuff like that. Force knows I found that out the hard way."

"Our bond is really new." Raven started to say that he wouldn't be able to tell but stopped when the memory of the last time she had tried to lie to him came to mind. Raven had attempted to get into Eeth's advanced saber class by pretending to be Ithan Kord, a padawan who used to be in Raven's creche. That had not gone well at all. In fact, he had picked her out as an initiate almost immediately. Her stomach went cold and her mouth dried up. "Lets just hope he doesn't ask, then. I mean, I doubt he would. I did tell him I'm crap at that stuff."

"Well, good luck," said Orion. "I just hope you're not feeling guilty about it because he might pick up on that when you meditate with him. I find that it's become much harder to get away with stuff now than it used to be in the creche. You have this one person looking after you and they're on your case faster than you'd think. Anyway, send me your list of classes once you've got it. I hope you're in one of mine."

"And if you get offered diplomacy as an elective," said Mayra, "don't choose it if Master Baahr is teaching it. He's the worst. I once actually fell asleep in his class because he kept on droning."

"Master Jawrid is pretty good as far as diplomacy is concerned, though," said Bindi. And with this, they were into a long conversation about the merits of elective classes and their teachers.

Meanwhile, Eeth was busy jotting down a report when the comm unit alerted him to an incoming message. As expected, it contained Raven's test results and her list of classes. He studied both files closely and frowned. Yes, Raven had forewarned him at her lack of ability at anything maths-related, and her grades had not exactly been great previously. But her score was so low that it spoke of either a learning disorder or some serious neglect on her creche instructors' part. Knowing Master Lowfac, Eeth considered the latter option unlikely. Nor did he think Raven would have gone eleven years in the creche with an undetected learning disorder. He was entirely prepared to accept that Raven might not be as good a student, at her academic classes, as Lakhri had been, but having to start her padawanhood with remedial maths did not exactly bode well for her future career.

He decided to request her maths test files and find out more about the source of her difficulties. After all, he took his role as a master seriously. He wanted to know whether this was something he could help her with or whether professional tutoring would be required; and if he could deal with it, he needed to know where, exactly, Raven needed help.

A quarter of an hour later, the test files arrived. Eeth loaded them onto his datapad, sat on the couch and went through them slowly and meticulously. What he found made no sense. Raven had managed to solve all the junior creche level questions but none of the more complex tasks. These included a few questions that required the same techniques as the junior level ones, which Raven had obviously mastered. She had written down answers to all questions but many of these answers seemed nonsensical. If she could not solve the tasks, why had she even bothered guessing? Or was there some pattern to her guesses that he had not detected? He could not tell, since she had not detailed her calculations. He would have to ask her to explain how she had arrived at her answers.

By the time Raven was ready to come home, she had forgotten about the placement testing altogether. Unfortunately, when she entered their quarters to see Eeth with his datapad, a carefully neutral expression on his face, it all came flooding back. Maybe it was nothing; after all, she might have done okay. It was possible. "Master," she greeted him with just a hint of caution in her tone.

"Padawan," said Eeth calmly. "Pull off your boots and come. I would like to discuss your placement test with you."


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Thanks for the nice feedback! We're not being slow on purpose. It's just that we're rewriting most of this from scratch since our original story was so lame… plus, real life sometimes gets in the way of writing. ;) So, here's the next installment. Enjoy!

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The last thing Raven wanted to hear upon returning from a great evening at the padawans' lounge with her friends was that her master wanted to discuss the placement tests she had taken earlier that day. 'Okay, don't panic. Relax, be cool,' she coached herself while pulling off her boots and cloak. Unlike the last time she'd come home, this time Raven made sure that she put her boots by Eeth's and her cloak hung on the rack by the door. And she took her time about it.

Eeth placed one of the test questions in front of Raven. It said "3/9÷6/14= ?" Raven's answer had been 9/6.

"Please explain to me how you got to that result," Eeth said.

Raven looked at the datapad, her eyes going wide when she saw that it was her test! How the Force did he get that? More importantly, WHY had he gotten it in the first place! How had she gotten that result? She had guessed, that was how, but admitting as much might open the can of worms. "I switched the… Um." No, that wasn't going to work, because there was nothing logical about her answer. In the end there wasn't really anything else she could say. "I wasn't sure about that one, so I guessed it."

Eeth frowned. "If you did not know the answer, why did you not leave it blank? What did you think guessing an answer would accomplish?" He was honestly curious since guessing was so pointless in a setting where the chances of getting an answer right that way were remote.

"Well, if you don't try there is no hope at all. Some hope is better than no hope. Besides, maybe the Force would give me the right answer." It could happen… Unlikely, but Raven was firmly in the 'you had to be in it to win it' camp.

"Hmm," Eeth said, clearly unimpressed with this answer. "So you have no idea how to solve such equations? It should have been taught to you, according to your creche reports."

"I have some idea, but that one was hard is all." Raven frowned and pushed the datapad away. "What classes am I in? Does it say?" Because if they had to talk about these stupid tests, she at least wanted to change the direction of the conversation.

"Padawan, in this conversation, I will be the one to ask questions. You will have to do nothing more than to answer them, completely and truthfully," Eeth said sternly. "This will save both of us a lot of time." Raven was being evasive, and he was not going to let her get away with it, especially since, in his experience, people who were being evasive usually had their reasons.

He pointed at the datapad and ordered: "Try to solve it. Now."

"I can't! I told you already that I guessed it because that one was hard." Raven said. She was not enjoying this conversation as it was fast backing her into a corner.

"You also said you had some idea," Eeth said coolly. "'Hard' is not the same thing as 'impossible.' Is it impossible for you to do, yes or no? I advise you to think carefully before giving me a less than honest answer to this question."

Raven looked down at the datapad and pulled it to herself once again. Could she solve it? Probably, but admitting to that was going to cement her guilt. She prodded at the datapad with the stylus and started scratching at the screen. The problem with this was that it was pretty easy to figure out that it was six that divided into both forty-two and fifty-four. Why she had chosen to guess this one was beyond her; apparently she had gotten carried away. Raven solved the thing and put down her stylus. That one really hadn't been all that hard, and her mind raced for a plausible explanation for the question that Eeth was bound to ask next.

"So why," asked Eeth, "did you not do this in the exam? The time stamp on your exam sheet says that you finished with time to spare." He was starting to suspect that his padawan had not actually made an effort to do well in her exam. It was unlikely that she was going to admit to it unless he left her no other option. But was still going to give her a chance to come clean on her own.

That was a good question and one that Raven had spent that moment frantically thinking about. She folded her arms and huffed. "I was nervous. I don't test well." There! She risked a look up at him briefly, but looked away again just as fast.

"And yet," Eeth said quietly, "that nervousness did not affect your results in Basic or biology, at least if your previous reports are anything to go by."

He gave her a scrutinising look. She was clearly hiding something and possibly feeling guilty as well.

"Padawan, go and look inside that cupboard," he finally said, pointing at the right one of two cupboards that were let into the wall between the doors to their sleeping rooms.

Okay, so now Raven was puzzled. It looked like a linen cupboard or something. She looked where he pointed and then looked back at Eeth. "What for?"

"You will see," Eeth said, impatience written across his face. He did not want this conversation to drag on until midnight; that would be completely pointless. "Just do as I told you," he ordered.

Raven could sense that Eeth was not altogether happy with her. Well, she already felt like she was in this up to her neck, so she stood and, despite thinking he was crazy, went to the cupboard and opened it. Raven was quite a creative personality, and she could entertain many things being hidden away in such a cupboard. Everything from taxidermied sea monsters and portholes to other dimensions, to extra cutlery came to mind. What Eeth actually kept in there, however, had the girl's mouth literally dropping open. There were a few paddles of various sizes and made of different materials; one stood out as it was the largest, coloured black and had holes drilled through it. Lying on a box and hanging on the inside of the door were a couple of straps, again of different sizes and thickness. However, what held Raven's attention were the two canes. Force! Her gaze flew back to Eeth briefly as she shut the door so fast that anyone looking would think there was an acklay inside! For once, the usually chatty padawan was lost for words.

"There are occasions," said Eeth calmly, "on which I feel that the small paddle I carry in my belt will not leave as much of an impression as the situation warrants. On those occasions, I will probably ask you to fetch me an implement from that cupboard. Now, whether I will do so tonight and what implement I will ask you to bring will depend largely on your willingness to tell me the truth. Now sit down and tell me, honestly and exhaustively, why you did so poorly in your maths exam."

There was no way that Raven wanted to fetch him anything from that cupboard. Therefore, she went back to the table and sat, all the while frantically trying to come up with a way out of this. Would admitting that she'd done badly on purpose earn her something from the cupboard anyway? The truth was, Raven was fresh out of ideas here. She pulled her legs into her chest and rested her chin on her knees. "I guessed a bunch of answers without trying to work them out first," she told the tabletop. That had been the truth, after all.

"That much is obvious," Eeth snapped. "I want to know why you did it. Now."

Raven was many things, but a coward was not typically one of them. So why was it so hard to admit to this? She started to fiddle with the hem on her pants, but after a moment or two realised that there wasn't anything else she could say that he'd believe. "Because I wanted to be put into the easy classes because then you wouldn't be disappointed with crappy grades because the easy stuff should be easy." It came out in a run-on sentence, but at least it had come out.

Eeth had truly and honestly not expected this. It was so far from anything he'd ever have felt or that his experience with Lakhri had taught him to expect that this explanation had not occurred to him at all. He looked at Raven for an unusually long time, trying to process this.

"Very well," he finally said. "It did not work. Nor was there any need for it to work because I will never be disappointed in you for having poor grades, as long as you made an effort. An effort was not what you made on this test. I will discuss this with the examinations board and ask them to revise your assignment to a remedial maths class. Go to your room and wait for me there while I make that call. We will discuss your punishment when I am done."

The thought of doing the test again did not thrill her, not that Raven was willing to say as much. Right now she was flitting between shame and fear at equal measures. Not to mention the fact that her plan had failed. Again! Unsure what to say, Raven jumped to her feet and ran to her room, palming the door shut behind her. It briefly crossed her mind to run, but there were no windows in here that could be opened, and even if there were, it was a looong way to the ground. Anyway, running was not her style. Raven was brave… Yeah. She sat on her bed, pulled her legs up as she had done earlier and tried not to think about what else her master would do or say about this.

Eeth talked at length to Knight Careph who administered the placement tests and schedules. They agreed not to have Raven repeat the test but place her in a basic maths class, one level up from the remedial class that she had originally been assigned. When that was done, Eeth made his way to Raven's room. He went to her desk and sat down on the chair, turning it around so he was facing her.

"Tell me what you are going to be punished for," he ordered.

Raven remained seated on her bed hugging her knees as Eeth entered. She followed him with her eyes as he walked past the end of her bed and pulled out the desk chair, noting that he had turned it around before sitting on it. That was not a good sign, but then again, perhaps he just wanted to have a long talk with her. It was possible, although from what she knew of Eeth, she doubted it was going to end there. Utterly unwilling to make this any worse, Raven swallowed and repeated her earlier confession. "Because I tried to get into the easy classes, so you wouldn't think that you got the worst padawan in the Temple." She knew he probably wanted to hear that she hadn't tried, but Raven hoped that he might just have some sympathy for her if she repeated that last part.

"And what, precisely, was wrong with that?" Eeth asked relentlessly.

Eeth's persistence drew a truly pained and slightly put-upon expression from Raven. "You told me to do my best, and I didn't. Also," she coughed unnecessarily. "I wouldn't have told you about it if you didn't find out. Incidentally, how did you find out, anyway?" Raven was baffled by his seemingly uncanny ability to smell a rat; if this was the way it was going to be throughout her entire apprenticeship, she could safely kiss any hopes of getting away with anything at all goodbye.

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "We can discuss this some other time," he said. "Right now, we are discussing your punishment for purposefully not giving your best effort and trying to deceive me over it. Padawan, I much rather had you fail an exam than cheat in order to succeed. And what you did is a form of cheating, albeit an uncommon one. I plan to discourage you from trying this again. Go to my cupboard and bring me the leather paddle."

The leather paddle imparted an impressive sting. The effects were not as deep or long-lasting as those of the wooden paddles Eeth owned and the sting was not as bad as that of the straps but it was still going to be an experience that Raven would not want to repeat any time soon. Which was exactly what Eeth was aiming for.

Okay, so this was new, and certainly not something Raven wanted to add to her growing list of novel experiences. Never before had she been asked to go get the implement used on her. This was a first. She looked at him, her left brow raised. "You want me to go get you a paddle so you can use it on me?" The words were incredulous, and her expression matched it.

"I think you heard me quite clearly," Eeth replied, stony-faced. Raven might not be aware of it but he was being lenient here. He had actually been planning to ask her to fetch a strap, but given that this was her first experience with the contents of his cupboard and that she was a brand-new padawan, he had decided to leave that for more serious transgressions. That decision could still change, though, and his posture and glare said as much.

The question dying to escape Raven was why the Force did he not fetch it himself on the way in here! However, the look on Eeth's face had her uncoiling from her spot on the bed and out the door without argument; she had seen that expression before, and it had earned her extra. Raven was about as unenthusiastic about this task as one could be; a sentiment that redoubled as she entered her bedroom, paddle in hand, to find Eeth still seated on her desk chair. She crossed both arms about her chest and frowned. Raven knew why she was going to cop it, but at this point, it was hard to be humble or accepting.

Eeth held out his hand. "Give me the paddle," he said. "Then bare your bottom and get over my lap."

Raven reflexively clutched the paddle to her chest and covered her backside with the other hand. Copping that thing over her uniform would be plenty bad enough, but on her bare ass! That was going to really hurt. Fortunately for Raven, she obeyed out of reflex and handed him the paddle. "Can't you just use your hand. I mean, I get that what I did was bad, but… I won't do it again." While Raven spoke she had managed to undo the buckle of her belt and her trousers had fallen to her knees. Her tunic was long enough to provide modesty, not that Raven was thinking of such things right now. All she cared about was preserving the state of her backside.

"The way in which I punish you is not open for debate," Eeth snapped. "If you are not in position in five seconds, you may go and fetch me a strap. Your choice."

"Aw!" Unsurprisingly, Raven did not want to do it! But neither had Eeth given her much of a choice as she wanted an upgrade even less. Whining, she pulled her underpants to her knees and leant across his lap. Eeth had never done this before. The last time he'd spanked her he just had her stand there, or bend over a bench, and she had kept at least one layer of clothing intact. Immediately all the blood rushed to her head; this was worse!

When Eeth punished students for misbehaviour in class, he prefered a formal, impersonal approach. He also typically wanted to get it over with fast. When his own padawan had seriously misbehaved, that was a different matter altogether. He wanted to make sure that his padawans showed a certain level of insight and acceptance, which was why he often made them fetch an implement themselves. He also wanted to be able to gauge their reaction and to draw this out as long as he thought was required, for which the position over his knee was ideal. Raven was small and rather lightweight. Restraining her would not be difficult. She was going to be in this position for as long as he wanted her to, if she liked it or not. And she was definitely not going to like it.

"You will give your best effort, always," Eeth said curtly. "And you will not try to deceive me, ever." This was enough lecturing, in his opinion. He tightened his left arm around Raven's waist, raised the paddle and brought it down across her bottom smartly.

Raven made to answer him but was cut off when that first smack landed. It stung! And she sucked in a breath. Before she had much of a chance to let it out again, though, another landed and the sting got a whole lot worse. This was worse than the paddle Eeth carried with him during classes, and a whole lot worse than Lowfac's hand.

Which was entirely the point, of course. While he was not angry, per se, Eeth strongly disapproved of what Raven had done in her placement test and he did not want her to do it again. What was more, he suspected that she was going to carry this kind of attitude into her classes if he let her behaviour run unchecked. And that was out of the question.

With this in mind, he applied the paddle methodically and firmly, dealing out swat after hard swat. He did not have to make much of an effort to distribute the swats since the paddle was fairly large and Raven's bottom was not. He did, however, take care to aim a considerable number of swats to the lower part of her bottom and her upper thighs.

Raven was never one for toughing this sort of thing out. Still, she was brave. Yeah… Brave she might be, but that didn't mean she had to like it. And she most definitely did not like it. It stung and burned at the same time, and no matter how she tried to squirm or angle herself, the swats kept landing in places she didn't want them to. "Ow! No more. Stop. It hurts!" she complained through a sniffle and started wriggling in earnest.

Completely ignoring Raven's pleas, Eeth simply tightened his hold on her waist and continued bringing the paddle down. When he spanked his students, he usually allowed them to get out of this with their dignity more or less intact, or at least some degree of composure. Not so when one of his charges had seriously misbehaved. This spanking was not going to end any time soon.

Okay, so Raven hadn't exactly expected him to toss the paddle aside and stop just because she begged him to. Again, this was a case of 'you had to be in it to win it'! Not that she was capable of forming calculated thought right now. Her backside burned and making it stop was about all she could think about. Raven squealed, wriggled and wailed until it hurt so bad that she couldn't even manage that, and instead, she started crying in earnest.

Eeth gave her another dozen swats for good measure. This had been no minor lapse, after all! It fleetingly occurred to him that he probably would have given Lakhri twice as much for something like this, not that Lakhri had ever had issues related to schoolwork. But then, he knew that he had been too harsh with Lakhri. He still felt bad about that. Unfortunately for Raven, that did not mean he was going to suddenly go soft on her!

When he was done, he laid the paddle onto Raven's desk and waited for her to realise the spanking had ended. This could sometimes take a while, in his experience.

And indeed, Raven was a sobbing mess. Her face was bright red from all the wailing and the blood rushing to it, and an unattractive concoction of snot and tears had run into her hair. Not that Raven cared; she was entirely focussed on soothing the considerable sting and burn that radiated across her backside. A hand came back to rub, but it was not helping much from this position. "Can. I get. Up Now?" she managed to get out through hitching breaths. This was very undignified! But again, it was the last thing on her mind right now.

"You may," said Eeth. He helped her up, produced a handkerchief from his pocket and handed her one. "Clean yourself up a little," he said, rising from the chair. "I expect you in the common room in five minutes."

He had briefly pondered offering her a hug but he had no idea whether Raven was the type to want or even accept such comfort so shortly after having been spanked. Therefore, he decided to wait with that until she had at least stopped crying.

The second Raven was on her feet, she started hopping around in circles, both hands rubbing furiously at the burn. Eeth's words registered, but Raven was too busy trying to rub the sting from her backside to respond. Still crying, the padawan pulled off her underpants – her trousers had been kicked off earlier – and made directly for her refresher. The cold water would help, she knew, but it would only work for a little while. Sure enough, the second she turned off the shower, the burn returned. It wasn't still building, though, which was at least one thing. She splashed her face, found her trousers and dressed.

All Raven wanted to do was curl into a ball on her bed and sulk over the unfairness of it all for the rest of eternity. Of course, she didn't really think it was unfair. She had gotten caught, after all. But this wasn't how she felt right at this moment. Still sulking, Raven exited her bedroom, arms folded about her chest, Eeth's handkerchief in her hand. Her face had mostly returned to its usual pale pallor, and only the occasional sniffle escaped.

Eeth rose and rested a hand on her shoulder, inviting her to lean against him if she wanted to. If she did, he was going to hug her; if she did not – well, he did not want to impose! When she did lean into him, he tentatively wrapped his arms around her and patted her back.

Despite still sulking, the Padawan buried her face in his tunic and accepted the offer of comfort. It was sometimes hard for her to accept comfort from the person who had caused her discomfort in the first place, even if it had been done for her own good. "What did you want me to come out here for?" Raven said into his tunic. The words were muffled, but clear enough that he'd understand them.

Eeth had hoped for an apology or something of that kind but he did not often require or enforce such things unless there were other injured parties involved or his padawan had been seriously disrespectful. Therefore, he merely said: "We still have your classes to discuss and your evening meditation to perform. And it is getting late. Join me at the terminal."

Reluctantly, Raven removed herself from his arms and followed him to the terminal. Apparently, she was required to choose four electives and one mission preparation class. There were, of course, some restrictions for a brand new padawan. Firstly, she had to choose an elective from each of four categories: science, language, history and arts. Also, as Raven read through the list, she discovered that many of the more interesting classes like anatomy and advanced hand-to-hand combat had other courses as prerequisites.

After a lot of questions, and even more indecision, Raven finally chose zoology, Huttese, philosophy, sociology and first aid. Before saving her choices, she turned to Eeth who had been watching her. "Is that okay?" Raven was thankful that they were standing up, although that had not stopped her from shifting from foot to foot and wriggling.

Eeth nodded. "Yes, this is fine. In addition to your electives, you will also have to take basic maths, intermediate Basic and basic science. I will send your choices to the academic coordinator now. You will receive your schedule by tomorrow morning."

"That's a lot of classes." Raven wanted to complain about the maths, but she thought better of it and instead settled on: "What if I hate them? You probably figured out that I'm not so great a maths and stuff."

"Your lessons will be much more practical now that you are a padawan," Eeth replied calmly while handling the terminal. "Maybe that will help you develop an interest in things that seemed pointless to you before. In any case, I expect you to start your new lessons with an open mind and not with the intention to continue hating the subjects you have not been happy with so far."

When he was done, he told Raven: "Please get ready for bed now. We will make it a short meditation. You need to sleep."

"Yes, master." She blew her nose on his handkerchief once more for good measure and stuffed it in her trouser pocket; it was unlikely he would want it back given the state it was in. Well, he had caused it. The truth was, Raven did understand that Eeth had reason to punish her and that he did it for her own good. Still, it was hard to think along those lines while her backside still burned.

Ten minutes later Raven emerged from her bedroom clad in a sleep shirt and underpants. The remnants of her run-in with Eeth's paddle were still clearly visible on her china white skin, but she didn't care. Eeth had put it there and she figured that he had seen worse in his time. Raven wasn't sulking quite as much now. She did have a tendency to hang on to things, and even sometimes begrudge a person, but this rarely lasted for long.

Eeth had laid out two meditation mats in the common room, knelt on one and motioned for Raven to kneel opposite him. "We will only make it ten minutes of meditation tonight," he told Raven. "You need to be well-rested for your classes. But I always try to put in at least a short meditation before bed and before starting the day, no matter how busy things are. This will help you greatly with every aspect of your training."

Ten minutes wasn't long at all, and Raven was grateful for that. Her eyes closed and, as she had done the last few times, Raven relaxed her shields and traced the tentative link of their training bond. She didn't find sitting all that comfortable, which was making it hard for her to concentrate, but Raven did her best.

When they had finished, Eeth asked: "Will you be able to sleep, given the state of your bottom?"

"It still hurts. But I assume you meant for it to," Raven replied and sat up, twisting at the waist. Yep, it was still pink. Granted, it wasn't bright red as it was before, but still.

"I did," said Eeth. "But I do not want you to miss out on sleep because of it. If the pain would prevent you from sleeping, tell me honestly. I can provide some healing if necessary."

Raven thought that question was crazy; of course she wanted healing if he was willing to provide it! She would have to be mad to say no. Thus, she replied: "Yes, master. Please. What do I have to do?" Raven had never had anyone heal that part of her anatomy before, but she wasn't about to look a gift bantha in the mouth.

Eeth was not quite convinced that the pain was as bad as all that but he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt - and maybe leave some lingering sting so she would not forget the lesson too soon.

"Lie on the couch and bare your bottom," he said. When she had complied, he rested his hand on her bottom and let some healing energy flow into the pink skin. Force-aided healing came easily to him. He had had to learn it early on in his life, for reasons that he would rather not think about if he could help it.

Raven was getting to the stage where she was no longer sulking and was starting to feel like she ought to apologise. She had been sulking and perhaps wallowing in a little self-pity, both traits that were not appreciated in a Jedi. Sighing, Raven buried her head in a cushion and let the silence linger between them as Eeth worked. He probably needed his concentration to do this, anyway. When he was done she got to her feet and twisted to check the state of her ass. It still stung a bit, but not like it had before. "Um, thanks. How come you know how to heal like that, anyway? Were you meant to be a healer but changed your mind?" Raven asked while righting her underpants.

"It is not that unusual for Jedi to have a talent for Force-aided healing," Eeth replied. "Those who do receive some training. I have never aimed at becoming a healer but I am reasonably proficient. It is a useful skill to develop. Now go to bed. I will tuck you in."

"Yes, but there is healing, and there is 'healing'." She stopped examining her backside to look up at Eeth. "You're better than most normal Jedi. Master Lowfac said I'm good at it too. We have basic healing classes sometimes in the creche, too." Raven talked about her last healing class and how her teacher had said she would want to develop it more later on as she climbed into bed. Typically, Raven was the sort of padawan who could talk the leg off a chair, in contrast to her 'man of few words' master. When she was done regaling him with the details of that lesson, she returned his hug. "Goodnight, master."

"Goodnight," said Eeth. He would see about enrolling his padawan in a few healing classes, once she had finished first aid. He made for the door and flicked his hand towards the light panel, which turned the lights off.

"Master?"

Eeth stopped in the doorway as he heard Raven's voice behind him.

"Yes, padawan," he said. "What is it?" He hoped it was not another long-winded story from her creche days as he would really have to cut that one short!

"I'm sorry that I tried to trick you and cheated on the test." It was a simple apology, but heartfelt.

Eeth smiled softly. "Apology accepted," he said gently. "Now sleep."

"Alright, if you insist." Raven grinned, rolled over and closed her eyes.

The following morning Raven woke again to a blinding light, Eeth's silhouette in her door frame. She made to pull the pillow over her head but remembered that it had been futile yesterday and simply grumbled something unintelligible about having to get up at the crack of dawn.

Eeth left her to the arduous task of getting out of bed and taking a shower. After meditation and breakfast, he showed her her schedule which had arrived late that night.

"It will be maths, Basic, zoology and philosophy today," he said.

"Yuck, my first class as a padawan and it's maths! I don't believe it," she said, shaking her head.

"It is in room 4139," Eeth said, the expression on his face unmoved.

Raven fiddled with the padawan's braid that Eeth had redone but appeared resigned nonetheless.

"Will you find your way there?" Eeth asked. "Or shall I come with you?"

"Please," was all she said, and went to get the pack that Eeth had asked her to organise the night before. Despite her hatred of maths, Raven didn't want to get lost or be late on her first day. This wasn't out of respect for her teacher, as it ought to be, but more out of apprehension over what Eeth would do if she got behavioural reports from her teachers.

"Who was your master, and what were they like?" Raven asked randomly as she followed Eeth to the designated room. Orion had spoken of his 'grandmaster' a few times. The man was very old now, but he said he liked spending time with him.

"Fenya Jaa," replied Eeth curtly. "An Iktotchi and a good master. She died three years ago."

"Oh." The concept of death was still not real for the eleven-year-old, but she could sympathise with Eeth. "How did she die?"

"I could give you the precise medical reason," replied Eeth. "But essentially, she simply died of old age. – Now, here we are."

Again, old age was a concept that Raven couldn't really fathom. She did know that many Jedi died in the course of their service to the Order, and to die of old age was in fact, not a bad way to go at all.

Eeth pointed down a corridor of classrooms. "This is where most of your classes, with the exception of some mission preparation courses, will be held. Have you memorised your way here?"

"Yes. It wasn't that hard," Raven replied. She paused at the entrance to the corridor briefly, smiling at hearing a number of voices coming from inside several rooms that all sounded about her age, thereabouts. She did miss this part of creche and missed her friends; making new ones was something she was going to enjoy.

"Have a good day, padawan," Eeth said. "And stay out of trouble."

Raven gave him a mock-hurt look, bowed and left. She couldn't really blame him for stating that, considering that he'd busted her cheating on her placement tests. Well, 'cheating' was still a word that Raven didn't associate with what she had actually done, yet nor had she argued it. Raven entered her maths classroom with a smile, which was very unlike her, but this was new and so were the other padawans she was about to meet!

* * *

That week the novelty trend continued; each class Raven attended was new and therefore, it was exciting regardless of the subject. By the end of her first aid mission class on Saturday afternoon, Raven had made several new friends in each of her classes. She was chatting animatedly with a young girl about her age who had been a padawan for about six months and this mission class was her final before getting mission clearance. Raven was envious. Mission clearance seemed like a distance dream to her, as did building her lightsaber, learning Force-aided running… So many things.

"Master?" Raven called upon entering their quarters to the smell of something .

"I am in the kitchen, padawan!" Eeth called. He was just putting a casserole into the oven. He had not been able to cook lunch for them at all during the week due to his Council duties. On most days, Raven had come home to find a note on the table telling her to have a sandwich, do her homework and meet him at the gym at a certain time. They had then had dinner at the dining hall together. Today, however, Eeth had been free and had made use of the time to have a workout of his own, do the grocery shopping and cook.

Over the last week the padawan had learned quite a lot about Eeth's idiosyncrasies. Thus, she pulled off her boots, put them by Eeth's and hung her cloak. Her pack was flung into her bedroom before she padded into their kitchen to greet him. Raven gave a slight bow and smiled; it was nice not to be met with a note today as she had lots to tell him about her day. "What are you making?" she asked, leaning into the bench by their cooker and picking at the gash in her pant leg.

"Vegetable and grain casserole," replied Eeth. "What happened to your pant leg?" As usual, he had picked that up right away.

"I tore it," Raven replied, and used that opportunity to start telling him about her first aid course. "First we went over the basic stuff." She twirled a finger in the air. "I knew a lot of it from watching holos and stuff. Then, master Patel gave us all headaches and we had to practice getting rid of them in our partner. I got rid of my partner's headache." Raven sounded very proud of herself.

"Good," said Eeth. "How did you tear your pant leg while getting rid of someone's headache?" He could be very insistent if he had a mind to.

"I didn't. That would have been impossible, we were sitting down," Raven explained as if she were talking to a simpleton.

"Padawan, will you just tell me how you tore it?" Eeth said in clear exasperation.

Raven tilted her head to one side. They were just pants, why did he care? "During second break I was climbing a tree after something that I thought was a Piranha beetle. I caught my pants on a thorn on the way down." Raven looked dejected and sighed, but it had nothing to do with her pants; those she couldn't care less about. "It was just a common beetle, though, a complete disappointment."

"Well, you will mend the tear yourself," said Eeth. "That will hopefully teach you to be more careful with your clothes." He had used that strategy with great success with Lakhri who had been massively careless with his clothing. He had soon learned to pay better attention because having to mend every tear and missing button was rather time-consuming and annoying.

The look Raven gave him was a mixture of surprise and, well, mostly surprise! "But, I hate sewing, it's boring! And there are droids to do that."

"You," said Eeth firmly, "will mend it yourself. I do not care whether you find it boring. And I will certainly not allow a droid to deprive you of a valuable learning experience."

And true to his words, after an afternoon full of Force work and lightsaber training and after a quick dinner, he fetched a sewing kit and told Raven to bring her torn pants.

"Ug! You were serious about that?" Raven complained at receiving that order.

"When I say something, I usually mean it," Eeth said. "Besides, sewing is a useful skill. You should definitely be able to mend your own things. It will be of great help on missions."

Raven went to her bedroom and found the torn pants. "I can mend my own things, I just don't like to. It's not fair that you're punishing me over an accident. I didn't do it on purpose," she told him, flopping into the chair opposite and tossing the pants onto their dining room table.

"You were careless," said Eeth, unfazed. "I am teaching you to be less careless the next time. Accidents do not just happen. They are caused by people who neglect to pay attention. In our line of work, we cannot afford that. Now get to work."

Raven's mouth fell open at Eeth's response, and for once, she did not know what to say back. So, she remained silent and snatched the sewing kit from the table, clearly unimpressed by all of this. "I can't do as good a job as the droids, it's going to look bad," she told him grumpily. It was also going to be boring and wasn't something she wanted to do, although Raven was smart enough to know that stating as much at this point would not buy her any favours.

"If you apply yourself to it, it is not going to look bad," said Eeth. "And you know what kind of effort I expect from you. If you need advice on how to best do this, I will be happy to give it. If you just want to whine, please keep in mind that I have no patience for whining."

"Well, I have no patience for this," Raven complained.

"Then you will need to acquire it," Eeth snapped. "Fast."

There was a lot Raven could say to that, but she sensed it wasn't in her best interest to do so and remained quiet.

Twenty minutes, and a lot of fiddling around, later, Raven finally put the needle down. It wasn't the greatest sewing job in the galaxy, but it would do the job. Besides, the padawan was not yet at a stage where she particularly cared about her clothing or what it looked like, which was probably how she wound up in this situation to begin with. "Some padawans go on missions, some get to go into the city and help out with real issues, but what do I end up doing? Sewing," she grumbled quietly while putting the stuff away.

"Don't be ridiculous," said Eeth drily. "Even if you had not torn your pant leg, you would not have spent this evening on a mission or in the city. Now get ready for bed. We will have our evening meditation then."

"Can we try kata meditation again?" asked Raven, ignoring his comment on being ridiculous. "I find it easier to concentrate when I'm not forced to sit still."

Eeth nodded. "Yes, we may. We will also try out different locations and work with a number of meditation aids in the coming weeks. Hopefully we will find a number of methods that work particularly well for you."

Eeth was satisfied with Raven's progress tonight. He broke up the meditation after about forty minutes and tucked her in. "We will go into Coruscant and see the martial arts exhibition tomorrow, as I promised you," he said.

"Yes!" Raven kicked the blankets off her feet with extra exuberance. This week had been full of new experiences and tomorrow was going to be the best of it all! Tomorrow was, of course, a Sunday and it was the only day she had no classes or other obligations and she was looking forward to their trip! It was going to be so exciting.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Firstly, thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed and sent us IMs. We appreciate the feedback and it's always nice to hear what you guys think. This will be the second to last chapter in this story, and it's about to take an interesting turn.

Also, a new chapter has been posted on Livia Yoran's 'Ghosts from the Past' story. If you are interested in seeing how Eeth and his third padawan, Lok, are faring, look it up in her author's profile!

Enjoy!

* * *

The next morning Raven was already awake when Eeth entered her bedroom, bent on blinding her into alertness. She sat up and gave him a shit-eating grin, as if she had just thwarted some diabolical plan on Eeth's part to make her life a misery. "Morning, master. You know, I think I'm starting to get used to your military-style regime."

"Good," Eeth said calmly. "That will help you a great deal on military-style missions. Good morning, padawan. Please get ready for the day. I will meet you for morning meditation in twenty minutes."

Today Raven didn't need telling twice; they were going into Coruscant today to see the martial arts exhibition and she was excited. Besides, since it was Sunday, Eeth had let her sleep in until seven. That was an entire hour extra! Could this day get any better?

Excited, the padawan rushed to shower and dress and came barrelling out ten minutes later.

Eeth looked her over and said drily: "I will thank you to brush your hair and straighten your uniform, padawan." As always, he was looking immaculate: His uniform impeccable, his hair sleek and shiny. Shaving was not something Zabrak males had to deal with, thankfully.

Raven dragged a hand through her hair and tugged at the hem of her tunic, attempting to straighten out both. However, when this did little more than exacerbate the problem, she huffed and turned to do as asked.

Another five minutes later, Raven emerged again. This time her hair was brushed and her uniform presentable. She noticed Eeth sitting cross-legged on his meditation mat, eyes closed and waiting for her. He looked the epitome of Jedi serenity and his appearance was immaculate as usual. "Show-off," she muttered, taking her place opposite him.

Eeth opened his eyes and looked at her, slightly surprised. "Why would you think that?" he inquired. He honestly had no idea.

"You always look presentable, and you always make meditation look like it's easy," Raven replied with a shrug.

"Well, it is," Eeth said matter-of-factly. "And it will be for you as well if you make an effort. Now let us get started."

Their plans for the day notwithstanding, he made the meditation longer and more thorough than he usually did during the week, simply because they had more time. Then he recruited Raven's help with preparing breakfast.

"We will clean the kitchen and put in some Force work practice after breakfast," he announced. "When we are done with that, we will go and see the exhibition."

"Can't we do it later?" Raven asked. It had been hard enough getting through meditation, let alone having to do more stuff on top of it. The padawan was dying to get going!

"No, because when we are back, we will put in a workout," Eeth said. "And tomorrow you will have classes. I will not have us leave these quarters without having gotten some work done."

"Force forbid…"

"Quite so," Eeth said, unperturbed.

"Fine then." Raven went to their kitchen and started working through her usual morning routine. She cleared their breakfast dishes while Eeth stacked the sterilizer. Why this couldn't wait was beyond her, and Eeth's explanation was lame in her opinion. Not that Raven said as much.

Eeth insisted that they clean the countertops and cooler. Then he took Raven to the common room to have her practice levitating inanimate objects, blindfolded.

"I know you are excited about going to the exhibition," he told her. "That gives you an excellent opportunity to learn how to focus even when you are distracted."

"Masterrrr! This is cruel and unusual treatment of a padawan," Raven whined as he brought out the wooden ship and a few other things that she found difficult to sense through the Force.

"It is not," Eeth said, stony-faced. "It is merely part of your training. And I encourage you to make an effort because we will only go to the exhibition when you have done so."

Resigned, and entirely unwilling to go for a repeat of last time, Raven tied on the blindfold.

The hour that passed was grueling for the padawan. Raven was rubbish at this sort of Force work as it was. Add to that her excitement at going into the city and, well… She did her best.

And Eeth asked for no more than that. He had realistically known that this was going to be difficult, and it did not surprise him that it was. Raven persevered, though, to the degree that could currently be expected from her. Thus, after an hour was up, he finally said: "Alright, padawan. Pull on your cloak and boots. We will use a Temple speeder."

Raven frowned. She had tried hard and he had made no comment on her efforts whatsoever. Did she need to try harder? Could she do any better? Raven didn't think so. Rayan's words came back to mind; maybe she wasn't good enough to be Eeth's apprentice. Regardless of her feelings, Raven still sprang up from her spot like someone had set fire to her cushion. She had her cloak on and was sitting on the floor by the door pulling on her boots in a flash.

The walk to the Temple's speeder garage was far too slow if you asked her. This was not the first time Raven had seen the Temple garage. That said, she could count the times her creche had come here on her hands so it was still a novelty. Not to mention that Raven loved anything and everything about flying. One day she would be the greatest Jedi pilot in all the galaxy! When Eeth chose a speeder, Raven was fast to ask him: "Can I fly?"

Eeth raised an eyebrow. "I can think of at least two reasons for which the answer to this question would be glaringly obvious," he replied. "Remind me what the minimum age for flying a speeder on Coruscant is."

"Semantics," Raven countered, a very slight grin on her face. She had not held great hopes that he would allow his eleven-year-old apprentice to pilot, but again, you really did have to be in it to win it.

"We," said Eeth, "are going to keep the laws of whatever planet we are on. That aside, you have not even started taking flying lessons."

Raven rolled her eyes but did not argue; he had a point and she knew that.

Eeth motioned for her to get into the passenger seat and navigated them out of the speeder garage into Coruscant's traffic.

As far as Raven was concerned, something interesting was always happening outside the Temple. She couldn't even fathom the exciting things that awaited her when she finally got mission clearance.

When Raven had had her fill of watching the traffic buzz past and asking Eeth questions about just about every function on their speeder's panel, she started to wonder about the exhibition they were going to. "Have you been to this one before?"

"No, I have not," Eeth replied. "I have read that it is interesting and quite instructive. Several masters have been there with their padawans, and as far as I have heard, both the padawans and the masters have enjoyed it."

He headed for a huge glass structure and steered into an enormous parking lot where a droid took over their speeder while they entered a transparent lift that gave them a specular sight over Coruscant on its way up to the three hundredth level.

Had it not been for the robotic voice keeping count every tenth floor, Raven could have easily convinced herself that they were floating. Bouncing on the balls of her feet, an excited padawan moved up close to the glass and peered down at the ground below. Then, not wanting to give the impression she had been locked in a cave her entire life, she quickly returned to Eeth's side and tried to stand still. She managed to hold this calm façade throughout the remaining floors, but it wasn't easy when there was so much to see!

The museum was located at the centre of the building. Eeth bought two tickets and handed Raven a map of the exhibition. "It's not a tremendously large exhibition, but they have got some rare and valuable exhibits," he said. "And they also offer a lot of interesting information and displays. Would you like us to go together, or would you prefer to explore the museum at your own pace and meet me back at the exit at a set time?"

Wait, what? Raven had to work at keeping her jaw from hitting the floor. Eeth was going to let her wander off. Alone! On the very few occasions where they had left the Temple, Lowfac had been on them like white on rice. She looked up at him, her expression attempting calm but failing. "Let's meet back at twelve hundred? If I get bored before then, I'll try hunting you down," she suggested. That was around lunchtime and would give her plenty of time to see all the stuff she wanted to check out.

"You can do that," Eeth said, his face unmoved, "but I will not leave early unless I am bored as well. It goes without saying that I expect you to stay inside the museum. You will meet me at noon, sharp, and we will decide then how much longer to stay. Should you need me, comm me. Alright?"

"Ahuh," she replied excitedly and, after checking her comlink, disappeared into the crowds.

The ancient sword exhibit was amazing. They had all different styles and makes ranging from swashbuckler bastard swords to the more refined Red Guard katanas. Raven spent quite some time browsing and chatting with the blacksmith before finally moving on to the other exhibits. There was so much to see here that Raven didn't know where to go next. It was a problem she was happy to have, though, and soon the padawan was engrossed in a live demonstration being given by a wrestling instructor.

Eeth, in the meanwhile, had looked at the epees and rapiers, then at the daggers, before heading for the ancient lightsaber section. The exhibits on display were loans from the Jedi Temple, and he knew most of them, but he had never seen them on display like this before. He found it interesting to see how their historical development was described to a general public. Among the other visitors were two senior padawans with their masters who greeted him and, much to his surprise, started some smalltalk. Soon, Eeth was engaged in a conversation with them about lightsaber construction, past and present.

"This technique is simple if you imagine a clock. Two hands straight out, and then, the other hand catches up," explained the instructor on a kendo display as he smashed his 'volunteer' into the mats. Raven winced, but the guys survived. She was going to have to try that, although doubted it would work that well when your opponent was far larger. No, she would need to find another magic technique to flatten Eeth. Oh well, they were in the right place to look and she had plenty of time. The thought made her smile and given that they had been talking about watches, Raven checked hers. And promptly swore; it was just after noon. Raven started running for the exit.

Eeth was standing exactly where they had parted, arms folded across his chest and frowning. "I said twelve o'clock sharp," he informed Raven when she came running up. "You do have a working chronometer, don't you?"

"If I say no, will you stop with the frowny face?" she tried while catching her breath. It was worth a shot after all.

"I would give you much worse than a 'frowny face' because that would be a blatant lie," Eeth said sternly. "The next time I let you go off on your own and you return late, we will go right back to the Temple where you will receive a reminder of my expectations. Is that clear?"

Raven did not want worse than a frowny face… Thus, she said: "Yes, master. Sorry." She would be lying if she said this did not amuse her just slightly. But only slightly. Eeth was a force to be reckoned with when it came to the rules, that much Raven had figured out by now.

When Eeth found that Raven had not yet been to the lightsaber part of the exhibition, he took her there. Seeing how eager she was about sparring, he thought this would interest her. He pointed out the characteristics of some of the most ancient lightsabers and explained why they were inferior to more recent models.

"It was closer to sword-fighting than to the kind of sparring we practice nowadays," he said. "Look at that holovid. It displays an ancient martial arts performance. The way they use their swords is rather similar to what you would use such an ancient lightsaber for."

"Cool!" Raven replied, and was quickly engrossed. The demonstration was impressive, too! "It must have taken the Order ages to get lightsabers to where they are now," she commented, her eyes still glued to the screen.

Eeth nodded. He pointed out several other lightsaber models and explained the changes that had been made, and why they had been made.

After seeing that, Raven just had to ask. "So, will you let me build a real saber soon? The question had been on the tip of her tongue for ten minutes now, and with all the extra information Eeth had just given her, Raven felt like she could build the best lightsaber ever.

"As soon as you have learned to patiently wait until your time has come," Eeth said calmly and rather matter-of-factly, without the least hint of reproval or sarcasm in his voice.

Raven had expected that response, or one similar. "I have no idea what you mean," the padawan said with a grin and plucked a plastic replica saber from its stand. "I am a paragon of patience… Just ask master Lowfac."

Eeth's mouth twitched slightly. "That is interesting to hear," he commented. "Put that saber back, please. Are you done watching the exhibition, or do you want to look around some more?"

Raven did as she was told and replaced the saber. "Can we stop by the demonstrations on the way out? They were choosing volunteers earlier." The thought of a challenge had Raven eager to take part.

"We can have a look, but we will not take part," Eeth said in a very firm tone of voice.

"Aw, how come? It could be fun."

"Padawan, we are Jedi," Eeth said sternly. "We do not perform for an audience, and we do not show off our sparring skills. We do what we have to do, without expecting praise. Besides, what fun can there possibly be in using your skills against someone who has hardly ever held a weapon, other than possibly a blaster, before?"

"I didn't want to show off. I wanted to have some fun."

Eeth led her towards the exit and pointed at two volunteers who were clumsily trying to hit each other with fake swords.

"Not much of a challenge for you, I would say," he remarked. "If you are interested, there are optional martial arts classes on offer at the temple where you can be trained in about every weapon you fancy. You never know which skills might come in handy during missions. But that is something you can think about in the next cycle."

"Maybe not much of a challenge, but still fun. The bowcasters look cool!"

"They are much more effective than a blaster, for sure," Eeth replied with a hint of a laugh in his voice. "But they will hardly allow you to handle a real bowcaster at a martial arts exhibition. Now, let us return to the Temple. I want us to have enough time left to have a proper workout. We will stop at a Careenian fast food place on our way. We can grab something there and take it back home."

Raven didn't want to leave but had to concede that they had spent about four hours there and explored the place inside and out.

This time, Raven didn't bother asking Eeth to fly. Instead, she vaulted into the passenger's seat with a huge smile on her face and waited for him to join her.

By the time they reached the takeaway place on the way home, Raven was starving, and suffering from a bad case of having eyes bigger than her belly. "Whatever vegetarian, non-green-goop options they have, I'll take two, please," Raven stated as Eeth pulled up to the window.

Eeth frowned. He was well aware what a poor eater Raven normally was. "Their portions are huge," he said. "I can order you vegetable stir-fry but are you sure you will manage to finish two of those? Under ordinary circumstances, even finishing one serving would be an accomplishment for you."

"Maybe just one, then," Raven conceded. Besides, she knew how Eeth was about wasting food, and wasn't about to make the same mistake twice. "Can I get an orange fizz, too?" Raven asked, having seen the advertisement pop up by their speeder. In the creche she did not get a lot of sweet fizzy drinks, after all.

"Alright," Eeth said indulgently. He ordered steamed Ku'uz grain with fish, A'uzza nuts and Shong fruit in a sweet-hot sauce for himself, plus vegetarian stir-fry for Raven and the orange soda she wanted. Two minutes later, he received their meals at the next window, a few meters further up. Tossing the container that held their order onto the back seat, he drove on towards the Temple.

"We can eat at home," he said. "It will only be five minutes, and the food will stay warm that long."

As it turned out, the stir-fry was plenty big enough for Raven. In fact, she had trouble finishing it all. She did, though, as she had not been kidding; walking around all day had made her hungry. It was good and she took her time eating it.

The rest of their day went by as Eeth had outlined earlier. Raven was given an hour or so to digest her lunch, while Eeth used that time to check his messages. After this they went to the pools for a workout that left the padawan exhausted, but pleasantly so. Eeth allowed her to stay on and play on the slides while he returned to their quarters, which Raven appreciated. When she finally returned home that afternoon looking like a little prune, Eeth was gone and on the table was a note to shower, change, clean her room and meet him at the dining hall at seven for dinner.

Unfortunately, the next few days saw the return of classes, homework, and no chance of going into Coruscant to visit martial arts expos was on the cards. Oh well, Raven didn't expect them to be flitting off into the city all the time, as fun as that would have been. That Eeth had taken her once and planned to take her other places on days when their duties permitted was enough to quell her curiosity for new discoveries. For now. Their Force work lessons with inanimate objects continued to annoy her, and Eeth's lack of praise for her efforts was not helping. In fact, Raven was starting to view the occasional 'that was adequate' comment from Eeth as about all the encouragement she was going to get. Again, this had the padawan questioning herself. Maybe she wasn't good enough to be his apprentice? Maybe he wasn't offering praise because her efforts simply weren't praiseworthy in his opinion! Both were likely.

It was lunchtime Thursday afternoon when Raven entered their quarters. She pulled off her boots, hung her cloak, flung her bag into her bedroom and went to look for Eeth.

Eeth emerged from his bedroom a moment later, wearing his full formal Jedi attire.

"I am sorry, padawan," he said, "but I have been called to an important hearing in the Senate. I do not know when I will be back, but it might be late tonight. I assume this is something that we will have to get used to; it does happen from time to time. I would like you to go and have lunch in the dining hall, then return home and do your homework. When you are finished, go to the gym and practice the defensive moves we have worked on yesterday for at least half an hour, using no less than two and no more than four droids, please. You should also do at least half an hour of kata practice. If I am not back by dinner time, have dinner in the dining hall, be back in time for your curfew and perform your evening meditation. If there is anything you need, send me a text message on my comlink. But only if it is urgent, please. Alright?"

As Eeth spoke Raven's expression went from pleased to see him, to disappointed. Still, she knew that this was his duty and that it was very important which was why she did not complain. "Umm, yes, master," she said, trying to take in all those instructions.

Eeth was not happy with having to leave his padawan to her own devices so soon into her apprenticeship, but he hoped that Raven was mature enough to manage. Once the hearing had started, he had to focus on his task of leading the debate and did not think of anything else.

Raven was actually hungry for a change and managed to eat quite an impressive lunch (completely void of green goop) before heading back to their quarters to start on homework. She worked on philosophy first; it was quite an interesting subject and she found herself finishing it with no trouble.

Her Basic teacher hadn't assigned any homework, so she now looked down at a page of numbers and theories. Although it was truly excruciating, Raven finished the allotted amount of maths work and started on zoology. When that was done, she ran through the mental list of Eeth's instructions. The gym was next: no less than two, but no more than four droids. Eesh, why did he always have to be so specific. Oh well, at least this was something the energetic, fidgety padawan would enjoy. Especially so after sitting around doing class work for the last two hours!

Eeth had said half an hour with the droids and half an hour of kata. So, Raven planned to start with the boring part and end with the fun stuff! And it really was fun! Raven was still bouncing around the room, off the walls and onto ledges avoiding her four droids when the timer on them deactivated. Given that Eeth had not set her a maximum time limit on how long she could spend, Raven restarted and was at it again. She did not bother showering as they usually did after a workout. Instead, she walked around the room until she had completely recovered. There was no reason to rush back to their quarters, either, so Raven took the long way back home, detouring past the creche garden in hopes of finding some critters. Self-deprecating thoughts about whether or not she was good enough to be Eeth's apprentice had weighed heavily on her mind lately, and the chance to revisit creche, and surround herself with some familiarity, seemed like a good idea. Maybe Lowfac or some of her friends would be around.

The creche garden assigned to Lowfac's creche was deserted because Lowfac had taken his entire group to the pools today. This was precisely the reason for which Initiate Rayan Haysh had come here. The garden belonging to his own creche group was full of annoying children, which gave him no opportunity to brood. And brooding was what he felt like. He was still angry that Eeth Koth had chosen Raven Trebeck as his padawan, rather than him. Could the man not see that Rayan was infinitely more talented, more determined, more ferocious a fighter? Sure, Rayan knew that he was not exactly supposed to be ferocious, but then, it seemed to be a quality that allowed him to win all his fights. The more he drew on his aggressions, the more they fuelled his attacks. Today, he had actually got into trouble over that and been sent to write lines, rather than complete his sparring lesson. Oh well, it was not as if that class offered him any worthy opponents, he thought in annoyance, kicking at sticks and pebbles, a dark frown on his face. He was going to turn thirteen in five months' time, and he would be damned before he went to join AgriCorps!

Raven was crawling along a thick branch engaging with a trail of ants, about five meters off the garden floor, when the sounds of stones being kicked and twigs snapping below drew her attention. So far, the garden had been – much to her disappointment – void of all her friends. However, the last person Raven wanted or expected to see here was Rayan Haysh! Raven stilled, hoping that he would just pass by beneath without noticing her, but today luck was not on her side. Her foot slipped, sending a shower of bark onto the ground below.

Rayan looked up and his scowl deepened as he noticed Raven up in a tree. "Did they send you back to the creche or what?" he asked venomously. "I thought they might. It's not as if you've got much potential, is it? Did your master tire of having to tie you down for meditation? Or did he ask you what two plus two is and you said five?"

Okay, the latter remark was closer to home than Raven would ever let on to Rayan! Was 9/6 the same? Probably. The padawan winced at the memory of having tried to swindle her way around the placement tests and what that had earned her.

For the most part, Raven and Rayan's shit-slinging contests had ended because one of their supervisors had noticed it escalating and intervened. Today, the garden was completely empty, leaving the two of them alone. Unfortunately, Raven had no way of getting away from Rayan while she was stuck up here – not that she would have run, mind you; Raven was no coward. Thus, she jumped from the tree, landing with more grace than she had anticipated, and leveled the boy with as menacing a glare as she could muster. "Go back to your own side. You probably don't have permission to be here anyway. Initiates have to get permission to go everywhere, you know." Raven smiled just a little bit at her closing comment. It was, of course, designed to rub in the fact that she was a padawan with freedoms that he had not yet been granted.

"I don't need permission to go to a freakin' garden," Rayan said contemptuously, against better knowledge. "Speaking of initiates. Do you know already when you'll be returning to the creche? I bet Eeth Koth is regretting his decision already."

"It's your funeral. Said funeral might come sooner, though, when I go tell your creche master you're here and she doesn't know about it," Raven retorted. What he said last, though, hit a nerve. Unbeknownst to Rayan, Raven had been thinking and feeling along those lines a lot lately. Eeth rarely praised her efforts but always managed to notice and punish her failures. It was playing on her mind that maybe Rayan was right. Maybe she wasn't good enough, and Eeth was too good a master for her. That hurt flashed across her face briefly, but Raven was fast to hide it with another emotion. "And what would you know about it? What would you know about anything? You're just a stupid initiate who will probably end up in the AgriCorps in a few months anyway. Well, have fun growing trees while those of us with the important skills do all the hard work." Raven knew that it took more than being good with a saber to become a Jedi knight, but what he had said hurt, and she was lashing out in kind.

Rayan laughed derisively. "Important skills? What would you know about important skills? I'm twice as good with a saber as you are and always have been. Someone will approach me soon. Someone who doesn't want a weakling for a padawan, but a real fighter."

Now it was Raven's turn to laugh. "Someone with the title 'Darth'," she mocked. "I'm better than you are and you know it. Eeth knows what's important, that's why you're still here and I'm not." Raven thought that comment was conversation-ending enough, and she turned to walk away.

Rayan smiled. "Maybe Eeth Koth was just afraid of taking on a padawan who might one day rival him," he said snidely. "That definitely won't happen with you. Obviously, you're too scared to take me on." He placed his hand on the hilt of his saber.

Raven stopped her retreat at the scathing remark but did not turn around to face him. That Eeth might be afraid of being bested was one scenario that she had not thought of. It was, of course, ludicrous. Eeth was a highly respected member of the Jedi Order, and he wasn't afraid of anything… And neither was she! "I'm not scared of you," she spat back and turned to face him. When she saw his hand on his saber hilt, she reciprocated but did not draw her weapon. The reason for this hesitation was not fear of a fight; it was fear of what her master would do if he found out that she had started one.

"Oh yeah?" Rayan scoffed. He drew his weapon but did not ignite it. "Then take me on," he said. "There's nobody here to intervene on your behalf. You will have to win the fight all by yourself. Is that why you'd rather run away?"

"I don't need help kicking your ass, and I certainly don't run from anything, least of all you. Not that you could do much damage with that initiate's plaything you call a saber," Raven retorted, and against her better judgement, she also drew her weapon. She was sick of this. If he wanted a fight, Raven was going to give him one and then some! She tried with mixed success to release the hurt she felt over his comments that had hit a little too close to home. There was a chance that they wouldn't be found out. After all, this was creche, and an empty creche at that.

"Don't pretend your master has let you build a real saber," Rayan scoffed. "As if that's ever going to happen." He ignited his saber and approached. "You can still leave, you know," he said conversationally. "If you'd rather run away, feel free to."

"Not in my nature." And with that, Raven ignited her saber and dialled it to low, because unlike Rayan's, this was a padawan's weapon and she didn't want to hurt him. Not really. Besides, how they would explain away lightsaber burns to his creche master was a conversation Raven did not want anything to do with. Then there was the chance that Rayan got a hit in on her. Explaining lightsaber burns to Eeth Koth, of all people, was a conversation that would only end one way. That was it settled, then. Raven could not allow him to so much as singe her uniform. He was still going down, though; the only question in Raven's mind now was how hard he would fall.

Rayan had one big short-term advantage, though: he had decided not to let his training any longer inhibit him from letting his aggression fuel his attacks. And since he harbored a lot of anger, his attacks were quite powerful. He had been looking for an outlet for a long time, and here it was, with no one around to stop him. Of course, he knew that his training saber could not really harm Raven but that did not mean he could not knock her on her ass! Suddenly igniting his saber, he jumped forward, wielding his saber so fast that it was a blur.

The change in Rayan's Force presence was unexpected. That distraction, along with the more powerful attack he launched at her, was enough to have Raven stumbling backwards, lest she be put on her ass. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen during this fight if she had any say in it. Drawing on the Force and her recent training with Eeth, Raven launched herself at him in kind. Neither of them were going to seriously hurt the other; this was now a matter of personal pride and self-respect, at least on Raven's part. Of course, pride had no place in the life of a Jedi, but… Well, Raven did not have time to feel ashamed of herself right now.

At some point during the negotiations, Eeth fleetingly noticed an odd disturbance in the Force. But before he could wonder about it, an argument broke out between two Senators, and he had to focus on calming everybody down.

Rayan went into the offensive again immediately. He fought off Raven's attack on pure anger and came at her from all sides. Feigning a strike at her left leg, he whirled his saber around and went for her right wrist instead. With any luck, she'd lose her saber; if not, she'd at least obtain a very slight burn.

It was an old trick and one that Raven was shocked she hadn't sensed coming. His anger was making it hard to focus. Her saber remained in hand, but the payoff of that was that she now had a small burn on the inside of her wrist. It was hard, but Raven forced herself to release her anger into the Force. Fine, now she was going to even the score. She shifted her weight, applied the footing Eeth had taught her and came in strong and focused, sweeping her saber down towards Rayan's right knee. As he moved to block, she shifted her footing and spun to come up behind him, bringing her saber down on his arm.

Rayan hissed and pulled away quickly, without losing his hold on his saber. That had done no more than sting a bit, but like it had with Raven, it would leave a red mark. "You got lucky," he snapped, and now he focussed all his anger and flung it at Raven, intending to push her back into the tree – knowing full well that Force pushes were not generally allowed in sparring matches. At the same time, he came at her with his saber hard and fast. All this created a disturbance in the Force so impressive that newly-knighted Bat Yaam, who was on his way home from having taught a group of creche children, stopped at the entrance of the garden and went to investigate.

Raven was about to say that luck had nothing to do with it when she felt a surge of … something? … through the Force. It was raw and powerful, and not like anything she had felt before. There wasn't much she could do to defend against this sort of attack, so Raven did the only thing she could: she reached out with the Force herself and pushed back. Thankfully, this offered enough protection that she did not go flying into the tree behind her. Instead, she skidded backwards but was well able to recover in time to fight off his next attack with one of her own. This match was getting serious now, and what she sensed from Rayan was… unsettlingly serious!

Bat came around a bend in the path just in time to witness two padawans in a ferocious lightsaber duel, with the boy aiming a kick at the girl and the girl swiping her saber at his legs in what would certainly have left a burn mark, had he not Force-pushed her back. The knight nearly froze in shock at what he saw – and even more so at what he sensed from the boy.

"Stop that," he said, trying to make it sound like an order. Just to make sure, he stretched out his hand and Force-pushed the two initiates apart. Both of them stumbled back into the bushes.

Raven did not know which direction to defend herself from first! Rayan was attacking and yet, there was another attack! The secondary attacker was a lot more powerful than Rayan, though, and once she picked herself up out of the bushes, she quickly regained her balance and focussed on Rayan who had also hit the bushes ass first.

The two now looked at each other menacingly. Neither child had disengaged their saber or wanted to be the first to do so. "You won't be so lucky next time." Rayan said curtly.

"Shut up, Rayan," Raven shot back.

Bat's worry increased. "Stop this, children. Put your sabers away right now. Which crèche do you belong to?" He had not noticed the tiny padawan braid behind Raven's right ear. As she was wearing workout clothes and Rayan his initiates' uniform, and since he had met both of them in a creche garden, he assumed that both of them were initiates.

There was not a chance in Hoth that Raven was going to put her lightsaber away while Rayan still had his drawn. It just wasn't happening. Of course, Raven also knew that disobeying the Knight's orders would probably have painful consequences, but her pride was smarting and she was on the defensive. She did, however, pull back her hair enough so that he could see she was a padawan, and not an initiate.

Scowling, Rayan said contemptuously: "It's Master Carem. I don't know who you are, but this is a private matter between Raven and myself. We didn't mean any harm to each other; in fact, it was a training exercise. I'm quite sure neither my crèche master or Raven's master would disapprove. So if you'll excuse me." With this, Rayan disengaged his saber and turned to walk away.

Raven had disengaged her saber soon after him and had gone quiet for once. She was starting to feel nervous and considered making a run for it herself.

Bat might not be the most experienced of knights, but he was certainly not about to let the boy run off. Sending a Force compulsion at him and forcing him to stop, he said much more firmly than before: "Unsupervised sparring matches between initiates and junior padawans are no private matter. They are strictly forbidden, as you well know, and I am very sure that both your crèche master and your sparring mate's master would not be happy about this at all. Besides, this was neither a training exercise nor a friendly match. What I saw looked way more aggressive to me than any Jedi sparring match should be."

He turned towards Raven. "Who is your master?" he asked. He secretly hoped that it would be someone who could be relied on to handle this, not an inexperienced person like himself. "And you would do well to tell me instantly this time, or I might just decide to take you to the council chambers and leave it to the councillors to deal with you. They might well end up being involved anyway." Bat was not making an empty threat here. The girl had been disobedient, and her master would certainly deal with that, but what he had sensed from the boy had been outright worrying and needed to be looked into.

Seeing no other option, and utterly unwilling to let this escalate to the Council, Raven acquiesced. "My master is Eeth Koth. But right now he's busy babysitting a bunch of senators. You can bet that the last thing he'd have time for would be to come talk about some dumb training exercise." She was still hanging on to that excuse, because they didn't have another story that wasn't utterly condemning.

"Alright," said Knight Bat. "If that is the case, then I will take you home and send your master a message explaining to him what happened here. You will wait for him at your quarters and tell him everything. As for you, initiate, I will call your creche master."

Before Rayan had a chance to protest, the knight had pulled out her comlink and requested to be connected with master Carem. Still scowling, Rayan listened as Bat ratted him out to his creche master who asked the knight to drop him off at his own creche entrance. Knight Bat was fully planning to contact the Council over this because what he had sensed from the boy was more than worrisome. But he was not going to do that with the two children listening. He merely told the two to follow him and made his way to Rayan's creche. Rayan's gaze was so furious that he could practically feel it burn a hole in his back…

The look on Raven's face was an even mix of annoyance and horror. Sure, Master Carem was not going to let Rayan get out of this without some sort of painful consequence, and possibly some serious meditations on aggression. However, Raven had to confess to EETH KOTH. The girl swallowed and visibly paled which was saying something for her as she was whiter than white to start with. There was nothing that either child could do, however, and so both of them followed as instructed. Neither would run, that was cowardly and certainly not something one wanted held over them by the other!

When the reached they creche, the three of them were greeted by a displeased-looking creche master. That expression turned to concern, though, after Knight Bat had taken the woman aside and spoken privately with her. "You're in so much trouble that I bet they will just ship you right off to AgriCorps," Raven taunted him. It was very unlike her to continue a fight once it was over with or to even goad a peer, for that matter. Rayan's words had really hurt her, and she wanted to make sure that she got some of her own back.

Unfortunately, Rayan was in no frame of mind to take crap from anyone. He was in trouble, and he knew it. He was also afraid that he might have blown any chances of finding a master by venting on Raven. Well, if he had blown it, he might as well go out in style. With that thought in mind, he launched himself at Raven. He was going to strangle the welp!

Firstly, an attack right now was the LAST thing Raven expected! Secondly, she was no match for Rayan's bulk. Thus, she hit the creche floor with a thump, Rayan's weight causing something in her arm to crack. The pain was horrendous, but she pushed it aside and focused everything she had on fighting back. They were going to beat the shit out of each other!

Of course, neither of the grown-up Jedi present would allow them to do such a thing. Master Carem Force-pushed Rayan back while Knight Bat grabbed Raven and held her. Unfortunately, he had taken hold of her injured arm…

"Ahhhoww!" Raven wailed, struggling to pull her arm free. The adrenalin was still coursing, but it was obvious that she had felt that.

Knight Bat realised that something was wrong immediately. He let go of Raven's arm and said: "You're hurt. Stay still." Pushing the girl's sleeve up carefully, he let his fingers run up the arm and grimaced when he realised it was broken.

"I am taking you to the healers," he said decisively. "And I am calling your master in. Senate or not, he needs to be informed."


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: We'd like to send out a huge thank you to all those who have read, reviewed and sent us IMs. We appreciate the support. It's great to hear what you guys think of our saga so far. This will be the final chapter in this story. Look out for the sequel, 'Trouble with Scorchers', which will be out shortly. Enjoy!

–Livia&Raven

* * *

"Knight Bat was right," said Healer Warrash, pointing her eyestalks at Raven disapprovingly. "Your arm is broken. How did you manage to do that?"

Raven opened her mouth to reply but was cut off.

"She got into a fight," said Knight Bat impassively. His comlink buzzed; he threw a look at it. "Your master is on his way," he told Raven.

"Ug! Really?!" Raven wanted to protest this further, really she did! But now that the adrenalin from the impromptu scuffle with Rayan had worn off, the pain in her right arm was so deep and intense that she was struggling to catch her breath. Thankfully, the healer was working on relieving this and the pain would be mercifully short.

"Yes, really," said Knight Bat. He helped the healer transfer Raven onto a broad bed and rest her arm onto a cushion. Healer Warrash gave Raven a hypospray to her neck and another one to her arm. "The pain will recede now," she said. "Lean back and try to relax. I will prepare a bone knitter. You will have to stay for the night."

Oh no. Raven didn't say it, but staying overnight in the healer's wing was almost as bad as having Eeth on his way here. Almost. She did not get a chance to express that as the painkiller started to kick in and she was starting to feel weird. A good kind of weird, though. Raven smiled because everything seemed a bit funny right now. Just a bit.

When Eeth entered, this feeling seemed to wear off. Quickly. Raven tried to sit up but was admonished to be still by the healers' apprentice assisting with the bone knitter. She managed a sheepish look, but no more than that.

"Padawan," Eeth said in concern, standing next to her bed and resting a hand on her head. "Knight Bat wrote me you broke your arm. What happened?"

"Rayan landed on me," she replied honestly.

Knight Bat snorted. "There is rather more to it than that," he said, ignoring the frown Raven pointed at him. "I found the two in a creche garden, having a rather aggressive lightsaber duel."

"That would explain the minor burn I noticed on your wrist, then," Healer Warrash remarked, pointing at the red spot. "But that will go away by itself," she continued as she started adjusting the bone knitter. "Master Koth, your apprentice will need to spend the night," she told Eeth. "Would you like to share the room with her?"

"Yes," said Eeth without hesitation. He was going to get to the bottom of this whole affair but that could wait until Raven was healed.

Raven wasn't happy at being ratted out by knight Bat, nor did she appreciate the healer pointing out her other injuries. She covered her wrist with the blanket and looked to Eeth, surprised but quietly thankful that he was going to stay with her. He had just been called out of an important Senate meeting, after all. She was about to say as much when the healers started giving her instructions as the bone knitter was attached, and Eeth turned to speak with knight Bat.

When Knight Bat had told Eeth everything he knew, he left. Eeth took note of the knight's concern over young Rayan's behaviour. He would bring it up with the Council tomorrow. For now, he had a padawan to look after.

"Padawan," he said, standing next to her bed and again cupping her head in his hand. "You will be transferred to a ward shortly. I will go to our quarters, get changed and pack what we need for the night. I will be with you in half an hour."

Raven hadn't been able to hear what they were talking about, but she could guess. Thus, when Eeth returned to speak with her she half expected him to start asking her for validations, and at the very least, to make her feel guilty for calling him out of the Senate. Eeth did neither. She stared at him for a moment, nodded, and then she let the healers do what they needed to do.

Eeth went to their quarters and changed into a normal set of clothes. Then he packed pajamas, toiletries and a set of spare clothes for each of them and returned to the Healers' Wing where Raven had by this point been transferred to a private ward with a window overlooking a garden. Two beds had been set up in the room. Raven was lying on one of them, her arm in a bone knitter.

"How are you feeling?" Eeth asked her, setting down the bag. He pulled up a chair and sat down next to her bed. "Does your arm still hurt?"

"Not anymore. They were pretty generous with the hypos." Raven looked at the large contraption on her right arm, pulled at it and sighed, her fringe blowing up with the effort. "You look tired. I didn't actually want them to contact you, I did say that."

"They were right to contact me," Eeth said, unsure if he should feel offended that his padawan apparently thought him too tired to deal with her injury. "I would be fairly unhappy if you were hurt and nobody went to the trouble of telling me."

"Well, I thought the Senate was more important." She raised her right arm, causing the bone knitter to bump. "It's just an arm." There was more to that, of course, but she kept that to herself.

"Padawan, some duties take precedence over others," Eeth said patiently. "It is YOUR arm, and therefore, it is important. Try to keep it still. The more you move around, the longer the bones will need to heal. I am sure the healers told you so." After all, Eeth had made his own experiences with bone knitters – plenty of them.

"They did," Raven said through a sigh; sitting still was hard for her as it was, let alone being attached to a bone knitter to boot! She looked over at Eeth. "What's the worst injury you ever had, and how did you do it?" she wanted to know.

"I did not do it, a droideka did," Eeth replied. "That was one year into my knighthood. I had relied on a member of my mission team to give me cover but she was… so preoccupied with the safety of a hostage she had fallen in love with that she neglected her job. The droideka hit my chest with a blade. Fortunately, my heart and lungs remained intact. Now, I would like to ask you the same question, namely: How did you do it?"

Raven listened with rapt attention. When he had finished, she looked at his chest, wanting to ask to see the scar, but sidelining that for a moment to answer his question. "I did not do it, Rayan did," she replied, copying Eeth's reply.

"I know," replied Eeth sternly. "I also know that this happened after you were sparring against him in a creche garden. Obviously, there is more to this than him pouncing on you and breaking your arm for no particular reason. I want to hear the full story."

Ug! That was the last thing Raven wanted to talk about right then. The padawan sighed and leant back into her pillow. "Master, you're tired. I don't want to stress you out anymore. Can't we talk about this tomorrow?" It was true. However, there were also other reasons why Raven was eager to put off talking about this.

"Padawan, thank you for being so considerate, but it requires more than an afternoon with a bunch of senators to make me feel too drained to be able to deal with you," Eeth said drily. "We will most certainly talk more about this tomorrow. But I would like to know now what, exactly, happened. Tell me." He really felt he needed to know how much reason he had to be displeased with Raven. Even more importantly, if the Council were to look into Rayan's issues tomorrow, they would need to know what had happened.

The look Raven shot him was piteous. "But what if I'm too drained to deal with you? Doesn't that count?"

"No," said Eeth, giving her a look that clearly said she had better start talking.

Well, that had gone over like a lead balloon. Similarly, so did Raven's hopes at getting out of this discussion. Resigned, she started talking. "I was on my way back from the gym when I decided to stop by the creche garden. I like going there; it feels familiar." She thought it necessary to explain this as that detour had not been part of Eeth's list of instructions. "Rayan just happened to be there, too. I don't know why, as it's not even his side of creche! He wasn't supposed to be there. He started saying stuff about how you are going to realise that I'm a crappy padawan and send me back to the creche." A flash of hurt was noticeable on her face as she said that, but it was quickly gone. She didn't want to tell him to what extent Rayan's words had hit home, so instead Raven simply repeated what she recalled of their shit-slinging match. "I know I should have walked away, but I felt him go for his saber, so I drew mine too. We fought for a while, and then knight Bat came along. He probably told you the rest."

"He told me you fought aggressively," Eeth said, his face impassive. "You even received a minor burn. Why was that? Did Rayan threaten you? Was that why you decided to fight back? Out of self-defense?" He suspected it was not but he wanted to make sure. Eeth might be strict but he also tried to be fair.

There was a pregnant pause while Raven contemplated lying to him. She looked up at Eeth and wrinkled her nose at the expressionless mask that was typical of the man. He was impossible to read! When the silence had drawn out too long to make anything but the truth believable, Raven groaned. "I fought him because he challenged me. He said I was too scared, and that I wasn't good enough. I wanted to prove him wrong. I wasn't planning to hurt him or anything! And, when he jumped me the second time I was fighting out of self-defence, I swear," Raven hastened to add.

"Hmm," said Eeth neutrally. "He jumped at you in front of two grown-up Jedi. Did you honestly think they would let you come to harm?"

"Well, they did," Raven countered and gave the ridiculous contraption she was attached a pointed look.

"You know what I mean," said Eeth sternly.

"Masssterrr, c'mon, cut me some slack here. I'm injured. It's Rayan's ass you should be busting anyway. This is all his fault." That wasn't exactly true; Raven knew it took 'two to tango' but she was having a supremely shitty day, and being dragged over the coals by Eeth was just going to top that off.

"We are not talking about Rayan, we are talking about you," Eeth snapped. "Rest assured that Rayan will be dealt with. But that is no reason not to deal with you. As for cutting you some slack: I am. I will not punish you while you are in this state. But I do expect honesty from you and if you are unwilling to provide it, that will just make me add to the punishment you are eventually going to receive. Now, I have two questions and you will answer them truthfully. First, when he drew his saber, did you feel you could have walked away without being harmed? And second, when he jumped you and broke your arm, did you seriously believe you had to fight back in order to prevent more serious harm to yourself?"

Having to answer those questions would surely seal her fate, but maybe Eeth would understand? She doubted it. He did not seem like the type of person to be goaded into anything, and it was that realisation that had her dragging a hand down her face. She shouldn't have let Rayan push her into fighting, but she had, and it was adding to her growing fear that maybe he was right and she wasn't good enough to be Eeth's padawan. "He said I could 'run away' if I wanted to." She looked up at him, her eyes narrowing. "I might suck at this whole padawan thing, but I'm no coward. The second time I was defending myself at first, and then…" Raven squirmed. "I might have wanted to scratch his eyeballs out… Just a bit." She raised two fingers about a centimetre apart in order to demonstrate how much 'just a bit' was.

Eeth did not know how often he had heard the line 'I am no coward' from Lakhri but it must have been dozens of times. He had never considered this to be a valid motivation for aggression and he was not going to start now. Why Raven thought she 'sucked at this whole padawan thing', he had no idea. Maybe because she was bad at maths. Well, she was going to come to a more realistic assessment of her strengths and weaknesses, given enough time. This was not Eeth's main concern right now.

"If you really were no coward," he said," you would not have been afraid of walking away. Which was obviously what you should have done. Ideally, you should have informed his creche master or me. I know it is highly unpopular to tell on other padawans, but when a child who is strong in the Force is bent on misusing his lightsaber, that is a serious matter. It can be dangerous, not only for you but also for others. Imagine for a moment that Knight Bat had not come along and you would not have been found out. In the best case, you would have won the fight. Rayan would most likely have found other victims instead."

"I wasn't afraid of walking away," Raven defended herself. But as Eeth continued speaking, she felt less and less inclined to argue. He was right, she probably wouldn't have said anything about the fight and maybe Rayan would have hurt somebody else. "Well, I didn't think about it like that at the time," was about all the padawan could think of to say to all of that.

"That much is obvious," said Eeth. "Which is why there are rules in place. The rules on unauthorised and unsupervised lightsaber use are abundantly clear and I am sure that you were entirely aware of them. I assume you were counting on not being caught."

"Well, yes." Raven wasn't sure if admitting as much was wise, but it must have been pretty obvious that she didn't want to get caught. Neither of them had wanted to get caught! "Are you very mad?" she asked in a small voice. Raven was feeling guilty over her decision to fight Rayan, not to mention having pulled him from the Senate meeting.

"No, I am not mad," Eeth replied calmly. "Being mad has nothing to do with this. Your actions are even somewhat understandable. Unfortunately, that does not make them excusable. And I am not prepared to take transgressions of the weapons rules lightly. You know better than to pull your lightsaber in a creche garden or to spar against an initiate without supervision. No matter what the provocation was."

Raven looked at the bone knitter as he spoke. Being stuck in this thing for another fourteen hours was going to seriously suck, but if what Eeth said was true, she wasn't in any rush to get home either. She sat there in silence for a long moment, and then she just had to ask. "What do you mean by that?" Because as far as Raven was concerned, he didn't take _any_ transgression 'lightly'.

"Are you sure you want to know that now?" Eeth inquired. "I would rather you had some dinner and slept. The medication and the bone knitter tend to be tiring. I do not want you to lie awake worrying."

"You don't want me to lie awake worrying!" Raven repeated, incredulous. "And you don't think a comment like that will result in my lying awake worrying anyway? What are you going to do, kill me?" The padawan was being a tad dramatic here, but, well, hell! Now she was nervous.

"Nonsense," said Eeth sternly. "Of course I will not kill you. I will, however, cane you. That is what unauthorised fights will reliably earn you. I can assure you that this punishment will motivate you to think twice about walking away, the next time temptation arises."

Raven blanched, her mouth suddenly too dry to swallow. Did Eeth just say he was planning to cane her? Shit was trumps! "But it wasn't my fault. Rayan started it!" Okay now that sounded lame even to her, but it was true! And Raven was going to do her best to talk him out of using a cane on her. Raven had been smacked with a number of different implements during her childhood in creche, but never a cane. She had, fortunately, avoided pissing off anyone who favoured using them. Well, until now… Raven wondered if stating as much might help? "I'm only eleven. That's too young to use a cane on. You might damage me."

"Padawan, do not try it," Eeth said even more sternly. "It is pointless. You know quite well that you deserve to be punished and you also know that this was no light transgression. I, on the other hand, know what I am doing. You may take my word for it that I will not damage you." As a matter of fact, Eeth owned two canes, the bigger one of which was indeed of a calibre that he would only contemplate using on an adult. At least as far as humans were concerned. The smaller one, however, could safely be used on children. And of course, Eeth would considerably restrain himself. It was still guaranteed to leave a strong impression.

Why Eeth continued advising her against trying these things was beyond her; of course she was going to try it on! Whether or not she continued to push it after the fact, though, remained to be seen. Sure, he couldn't exactly spank her while she was stuck in a bone knitter, but then again, she did not want to push him to that point to begin with. Besides, he might just come up with something she hadn't thought of. All this ran through Raven's mind as she contemplated his words. "Nobody has ever caned me before, though!" she complained, hoping that this might sway him. The truth was, she had seen it before and really, really didn't want to find out first-hand why her peers were so wary of copping it.

"And your point would be?" Eeth asked, raising his eyebrows.

"That nobody has, so you shouldn't either. I got into a fight that I didn't start and that wasn't my fault. I bet Rayan doesn't get in this much trouble. You're being too hard on me." Yes, yes, that sounded lame, but it was all she could come up with. Raven was desperate now. She didn't want to cop it with that horrid thing.

"I am being exactly as hard on you as you deserve," Eeth said coolly. "Whether or not you have deserved it before or others have administered appropriate punishment is not my concern. Nor should Rayan be yours. I will not revoke my decision. But I can always add strokes if you continue arguing. Stop it."

"So you won't change your mind and now I'm not even allowed try. Unfair," Raven huffed. She wasn't willing to say any more, though, so she settled on boring a hole in her bedsheets with her gaze.

"You," said Eeth, "are quite lucky that I cannot turn you over my knee here and now. I am done with the backtalk. You may safely leave it to me to decide what is fair and unfair. Now, we will order dinner from the terminal, eat it, meditate and then you will sleep. Without further argument. The medication and bone knitter are putting a strain on your body. The more rest you get, the better."

Raven looked up sharply. Would he really spank her in the middle of the healers' wing? If the stern tone was anything to go by, yeah, he totally would! Thus, Raven desisted; apparently there was no talking him around and trying was simply going to land her deeper in the shit.

Dinner went down sideways, but she ate it nevertheless, and thanks to the medication top-up she received that evening, Raven was out like a light by barely eight.

The following morning, Raven was woken early by a healer who was checking the positioning of the bone knitter and scanning her arm for progress. "Ug, go away," Raven complained sleepily, attempting to turn over; but the bone knitter was preventing her from moving.

Eeth rose quietly and rested a hand on Raven's shoulder. "Let the healer do her job," he said softly. "You can sleep for an hour or two more when she's done."

"Yes, Master," Raven replied sleepily. She was too tired to argue and the healer was not causing her any great discomfort.

When Raven next woke, it was to the sound of a tray being placed onto her bedside table. She sat up, well, as much as she could sit up given that she was attached to a bone knitter. Immediately, she rubbed her eyes with her only free hand and looked for Eeth. He was there, seated in the same chair as he had been sitting in earlier, and talking with the healer.

Eeth, who was fully dressed and looking immaculate as usual, turned around and smiled at Raven. "Good morning, padawan," he said. "I ordered you some toast and juice for breakfast. Please eat. The bone knitter will come off in half an hour. Then the healers will check you over one last time and you will be allowed to go home."

"Morning, master," Raven replied sleepily, and eyed the toast hungrily. Maybe it was the drugs, but for once she had an appetite. Two pieces of toast and half a glass of juice later, Raven swiped a blob of jam off her sheets with a finger and sucked it clean.

"Master Koth, padawan Raven. Good morning," interrupted the master healer, who in Raven's opinion was far too chipper considering that it was barely seven in the morning. "Let's check you over." The healer went about scanning Raven's arm, and then she called in others to help remove the bone knitter. It took about half an hour before Raven was finally free of the thing, and even then she needed further tests. "I'm good, I'm good, look," Raven held up her arm and wriggled her fingers to prove her point.

"Padawan, you will leave that to the healers to decide," Eeth admonished her. "And if they need to perform further tests to determine that, that is what you will let them do."

Raven huffed but acquiesced, flopping back into her pillow and leaving her arm still for them to prod.

It was another half hour before the healers deemed her fit to leave. Finally! It wasn't that Raven didn't appreciate their help; she had, and she made sure to thank the healers who were present upon her release. After that, it was kind of hard to taper the exuberance at being freed from the healers. Raven skipped, hopped, jumped and ran her fingers along the walls as they walked the halls; being stuck in bed for fifteen hours had not been easy on her.

Eeth knew as much. "We will go swimming later," he said. "It is, unfortunately, the only type of workout you are allowed for the next week. No jumping or slides. First, though, we need to deal with the punishment for your entirely unauthorised lightsaber duel."

Raven didn't mind swimming and she brightened up at hearing that they'd be going. That exuberance was short-lived because when Eeth mentioned that they had other business to deal with first, it kind of sucked the wind from her sails. Over the course of the night and all that had happened, Raven had forgotten about yesterday's conversation over punishment. "Aw, no. Haven't I been through enough?" The question was sincere. She had broken her arm, after all!

"You must be delusional if you think I will forego punishing you for breaking the rules and risking the safety of yourself and others in such a spectacular fashion," Eeth said brusquely. He palmed open the door to their quarters and beckoned her inside.

Raven leveled him with a quelling look as they entered their quarters but did not argue.

"Pull off your boots and unpack your things," Eeth said. "I expect you in the common room in ten minutes."

Raven stomped off to her bedroom, threw her pack onto the bed with considerable force and started beating up the pillow with her good arm. She was wallowing in self-pity, but she was also scared, not that she'd ever admit to that; Raven was brave. The idea of hiding under her bed was rejected as ludicrous the moment it flashed through her mind, as was the notion of jumping out the window. Still, when the ten minutes were up, she crept from her bed and pressed an ear to the door. Maybe he was going to be busy for longer.

"Padawan, your ten minutes are up!" Eeth called from the common room. "You don't want me to add strokes for arriving late."

She did not! But nor did she want to go out there. Panicking, the padawan did the only thing she could think of, namely, she pulled on another pair of trousers and exited her bedroom. Raven didn't say anything, she just folded her arms across her chest and tried not to look like she wanted to run out the door. Showing fear was not Raven's style, although she was honestly having a hard time of it over this.

Eeth was sitting on a chair he had taken from the dining table, arms folded across his chest. He gave her a penetrating look and ordered: "Take your pants and underpants down and get over my lap."

Shit! Well, so much for the second pair of trousers she had thought to put on. They would hardly provide extra protection if she had to take them down! And then there was the fact that Eeth would no doubt notice. This was getting worse and worse. Had he changed his mind? She couldn't see the damned thing anywhere, and getting spanked in addition wasn't meant to be on the cards!

Raven was hopeful. "But I thought you said you were going to cane me?" Raven questioned in a tone that sounded far too meek for her liking.

"I will," said Eeth, stony-faced. "But before I do, I will spank you. Now do as I told you or I WILL start adding strokes."

The look on Raven's face was all-telling. She stared at him for a moment, but fortunately for her, she started to comply despite every fibre of her being screaming the opposite. She moved to his side and started pulling down layers of protection. "Master, c'mon. You don't have to spank me. It wasn't my fault, and I promise it won't happen again. Ever!" She felt bad for begging before he'd even started. Still, she was hoping for a last-minute reprieve.

"Padawan, you chose to break the rules," Eeth said sternly. "Now you will have to take the penalty. You should not have pulled your lightsaber. Period. This was a serious transgression, and your punishment will reflect that. I intend to make sure you think very carefully before you ever do something like this again. Now get yourself over my lap. I will not ask you again." He fleetingly noticed the second pair of pants but did not comment. Lakhri had tried that one as well. It was pointless since Eeth never allowed his padawans to keep their trousers on.

Raven sighed at having her begging fall on deaf ears and reluctantly put herself over his lap. She made a token effort at getting comfortable, but if experience had taught her anything, it was that there was nothing at all comfortable about being in this position. She hated it! All the blood rushed to her head, and it was nearly impossible to reach back. Also, if she leaned forward too much, her feet came off the floor, and that was never dignified. Not that there was much of her dignity left at this point.

Without losing a moment, Eeth raised his arm and started spanking his padawan's upturned bottom, hard.

"No matter what the provocation, you are not to engage in unsupervised sparring unless you are absolutely forced to defend your life," he informed her while covering her bottom with rhythmic swats. The warm-up was the only time at which he could realistically remind her of the reasons for this punishment since padawans tended to be too distracted during the main part of it to hear a word of what he was saying.

Raven could just manage a rather unhappy grunt in reply. She squirmed, squeezed her eyes shut tightly and yelped. The pain and humiliation were hard to bear in combination, which was why she was wriggling around, kicking and whining; it hurt! It was supposed to hurt, after all, and Raven saw no reason to pretend it was otherwise. Besides, there was that one occasion when the faster she had started whining, the faster it had been over with. That hadn't worked with Eeth before, but it was still worth pursuing.

Eeth was entirely unimpressed with this strategy. He could distinguish fake whining from serious pain quite well and he knew that Raven was nowhere near where he wanted her. Thus, he continued raining hard and fast spanks onto his padawan's unprotected bottom.

Naturally, there was only so much an eleven-year-old could fake, and it did not take long before Raven's whining, and wriggling became genuine. "Oww! Master, waaait! Stop! It hurts," she complained through sniffling. She wasn't all and out howling, but neither was she happy about this!

Eeth, of course, was not going to do her that favour. The handspanking was only the prelude; it was not nearly sufficient punishment for an incident of unsupervised sparring! When he let up on Raven, it was only to say: "Alright, padawan. Go to the cupboard and bring me the smaller one of the canes."

Still crying, Raven scrambled to her feet and while one hand rubbed furiously, the other yanked up one pair of trousers. Her underpants wedged up her ass crack uncomfortably, but that minor hardship was a mere drop in the ocean of discomfort she felt right now. Raven made a whining noise in response to his orders, all the while doing her best to untangle herself from the extra pair of trousers. She obeyed, though, as the threat of getting extra was not something she wanted Eeth to make good on. She did, however, take her time about it and dragged her feet slowly back to where Eeth sat. If her bottom lip stuck out any further, she would surely fall over it.

"Thank you, padawan," Eeth said perfectly calmly, accepting the cane and rising from the chair. Its back was too high for Raven to bend over. He had done this with Lakhri often enough to know how to create a suitable position, however. "Bare your bottom, bend over and place your elbows on the seat of the chair," he ordered. "Best grip the backrest with your hands."

The last thing Raven wanted to do was turn her back to Eeth while he held a cane, let alone do so with a bare ass! Again, she pushed down the urge to run. Eeth would probably catch her, and if he didn't, she would have to come home sooner or later. She bounced on her toes and reluctantly pulled her trousers and underpants down for the second time! "Masterrrr, don't use that on me… I've learned, I swear I'll never do it again. It hurts too much already," she whined. She wasn't exactly exaggerating either. Although he had only used his hand, he had spanked her hard, and it had hurt!

"I do hope that you have learned," Eeth said, unmoved. "But I still want to make sure this lesson sinks in. Bend over."

In truth, he was not planning on giving her a particularly hard caning, by his standards, since this was her first experience with this implement. He had made the handspanking accordingly harder and therefore was well aware that Raven was already in considerable pain. But the cane was the implement he always used when he really wanted to make a point, and he was not about to make an exception now. Eeth did not like making exceptions at all. He was rather predictable that way although, of course, Raven had as yet little experience that she could have based her predictions on.

Raven was struggling to obey here. "Wait, I'll do extra meditation, or you could ground me for a month even…" she bargained desperately and rubbed a tear away with her shoulder. Not many things frightened Raven. However, she had seen her peers caned before and had thus developed a healthy amount of fear for the thing.

"I am not in the habit of letting my padawans vote on the way they are punished," Eeth replied firmly. "That will be one extra. Two if I do not find you in position in ten seconds."

"Aww nooo!" Raven complained, but stopped with the bouncing around all the same. She didn't want any more! In fact, she didn't know how many one extra would make it! Sniffling, Raven put her elbows on the seat of the chair and gripped the backrest of the chair like it was a life preserver.

Eeth moved to stand next to Raven, let the cane rest on her bottom briefly, then raised it and brought it down onto the centre of her buttocks quickly, but not remotely at full force. Without pausing, he delivered two more fast strokes, moving down towards her sit spot. Since this was Raven's first experience with the cane, he did not know whether she was going to be able to maintain her position if he drew it out any longer than necessary.

Raven heard a faint whooshing sound, followed by a sharp crack and then… nothing? He hadn't missed his target because she had felt a… "Ahhhoooch!" FUCK! At first there had been only a mild sting, but then it burned, white-hot, and an ache bloomed from two inches deep, radiating across her entire bottom! It was the worst pain Raven had ever felt …And then Eeth landed a second! This was unbearable; just as the pain from the previous stroke peeked, the next cracked down! "I'm sorrreeee! I'm sorreee!" Raven howled, anything if it would make him stop. She was no wimp. She had experienced some pretty serious punishments before, but this? This topped them all.

Eeth hardened himself against his padawan's howls and proceeded to raise the cane again. He brought it down onto Raven's bottom another three times in quick succession, increasing the force behind his blows just very slightly - first onto the lowest part of her bottom, then onto the crease where the bottom met her thighs, and last onto her upper thighs. He waited for a moment until Raven's howls had died down a little and said: "That was your punishment for your unauthorised sparring match. Now for the extra stroke you earned for dawdling."

By this stage Raven was barely able to keep from jumping up and bolting for her bedroom. Her elbows had come off the chair several times and she was squirming, flitting from foot to foot. This hurt more than anything, and the last thing she wanted to hear was that there was still another one coming.

Eeth aimed this stroke at the centre of Raven's bottom, at moderate force, although he doubted she was going to be able to tell the difference right now. Then he laid the cane onto the table and waited for her to regain her composure.

Composure and Raven were not on speaking terms. The shame she felt over openly bawling like a toddler was only overshadowed by the pain that seemed to be dominating her entire back end. She stood slowly and reached back to rub, only to realise fast that rubbing cane welts did nothing to alleviate the pain; it just made it burn worse! Utterly miserable and still bawling the padawan buried her face in her sleeve and sobbed. Had he meant to make it hurt that badly?! It was unbearable. Maybe he was planning to take her back to the creche? These thoughts only made her sobs intensify.

"Padawan, calm down," Eeth said quite gently and pulled her into a slightly awkward but genuine hug. "I know it hurts."

Raven hadn't forgiven Eeth for causing her so much pain, but she still went willingly into his arms and accepted the comfort. That it was awkward on his part went completely unnoticed to the padawan who was focussing on nothing other than the pain that was throbbing and thumping with each beat of her heart. "D-don't send m-me back t-to the c-cre-che," she managed to get out between sobs.

Eeth frowned. "What gives you the idea that I want to send you back to the crèche?" he asked. "Because I disciplined you? The Temple would be void of padawans if we all followed that logic. Now I want you to meditate for twenty minutes. If you make an appropriate effort, I will provide some healing afterward."

Yes, that was exactly why. It had been the hiding of her life! "I figured y-you wouldn't want me anymore, because I disappointed you, a-and, you made it hurt that much!" Raven was finally starting to win the battle, and her sobs were calming down.

"Disappointed?" Eeth asked, surprised. "Disappointment has nothing to do with this, padawan. I disciplined you in order to help you make better choices in the future, not because I was disappointed in you. I fully expect you to make your share of mistakes, like all apprentices do – and you can fully expect to be called to task for them. As I said earlier, your actions were understandable, albeit not excusable. Now meditate."

How the Force Eeth expected her to meditate while she was in this state was beyond her. Okay, so by this point Raven had gotten her sobs under control, but her breath was still catching in her chest and her backside, well, it was never going to forgive her. Ever! It burned, ached, throbbed and stung all at the same time. Unwilling to question him, Raven yanked up her trousers only to wince and pull the fabric away. That was not at all pleasant, but she had experienced far worse just moments ago. "What do I have to meditate on?" she managed to get out with any words catching in her chest.

"When I ask you to meditate after a punishment," Eeth said, "I will want you to reflect on the choices that brought it about and on what you might do to avoid them in the future."

Raven sniffled and hitched her way to her meditation mat, blew her nose on the extra pair of trousers —at least they had come in handy for something — and fell onto her belly, her head buried in the crook of an elbow.

Eeth left her to it. He did not care in what position Raven meditated as long as she did it. He monitored her through the Force, though, to make sure that she was actually meditating, rather than sulking or waiting out the twenty minutes.

It took Raven a few minutes to find her focus. Focus seemed elusive at the best of times, let alone when she was in significant pain. At least he was not going to return her to the creche#, that was one less thing she had to agonise over. Ten minutes passed in which she made a valiant effort at concentrating. However, the comfortable position coupled with the stress of the whole ordeal had her drifting off not long after that.

Eeth would have none of that, of course. He sent her the equivalent of a prod through their bond, which had her eyes opening immediately.

"Padawan," he said out loud, "I asked you to meditate, not to sleep. Your twenty minutes are not up yet." He said it quite gently, though. He knew that this was most likely Raven's first time doing this on a sore bottom and that she had trouble focussing at the best of times. He did not expect perfection, merely a decent effort.

"How much longer?" she asked, rubbing at her eyes. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, but all the wailing coupled with the stress of the last two days was catching up on her.

"Ten more minutes," said Eeth. "Provided you do use them to meditate, rather than take a nap." His words had no sting to them, however.

Ten minutes was going to feel like ten hours, and Raven's piteous expression said as much. Still, she thought sitting up might help, and so she moved to sit on her heels. That was a mistake; it hurt, and she was up off them again immediately. Kneeling was uncomfortable, so she bunched the extra pair of trousers and knelt; this wasn't perfect, but at least she was not going to fall asleep.

Eeth did some chores around the household in the meantime. When the ten minutes were up, he came to release Raven who was kneeling on an extra pair of trousers, her head resting on the wall.

"You may get up now," he said. "Lie down on the couch and bare your bottom. I will provide some healing. You are still going to feel this for a while, but I want you to be able to sit down."

Raven stood, stiffly, and rubbed at her knees. The pain had settled into a deep, smouldering ache that radiated across Raven's entire back end, but at least it was no longer building. Small mercies.

Her trousers hurt coming down, but it was nothing compared to what had caused it in the first place. Thus, she sucked it up and twisted to check the state of her poor backside. Much to her surprise, it was not the brutally battered, bloody mess she had expected would result from enduring that amount of pain! In fact, there were seven red welts, some were raised more than others, but none of them were the war wounds she had expected. Apparently, Eeth had somehow managed to make it hurt like she was being murdered without leaving her with anything worthy of such pain to show for it. Raven frowned, pulling her tunic further up her back to double check.

"Yes, you are still in one piece," Eeth informed Raven. "And the pain will be bearable after I have provided some healing. If you want that healing, you had better lie down, though."

She did! Raven lay on the couch, her neck craned to see how he planned on doing this.

Eeth frequently used his healing abilities in order to ease the pain after dealing out one of his harsher punishments. He did not believe that the additional ordeal of having to sit on cane welts for days would add anything useful to the discipline he had meted out. Even though this caning did not qualify as particularly severe to him, he knew that Raven was in a lot of pain right now.

After about ten minutes of silence, in which the pain had reduced significantly, Raven asked: "Did you discipline Lakhri like that?" She had used his wording, although the term 'discipline' felt far too much like something being done for her own good; Raven wasn't quite ready to forgive, forget and accept just yet.

"Yes, I did," Eeth replied. "And just so you know, this was not the harshest punishment I could have given you. The cane will be reserved for serious infractions, though."

He rose from his kneeling position and motioned for her to get up.

Raven obeyed and stood noticing that she still hurt, but it was nothing like the ache that had been there before. "Not the harshest?" Raven wasn't sure if she wanted to hear how he could one up that, but she asked anyway. "What could be worse than that?"

"Let us hope you will not have to find out," Eeth said calmly. "Suffice it to say that I held back considerably. This time."

The look Raven gave him was priceless. If that was holding back, she couldn't fathom what it would feel like if he really gave her what for. Tentatively, she asked: "Did you, you know? Um, ever not hold back with Lakhri?" She had her reasons for asking. The insecurities Rayan had planted had her wondering if being that harsh was just because she was failing.

"I have always held back somewhat," Eeth said. "After all, there is only so much human skin can take without breaking. But there are different degrees of severity. With Lakhri, I have been harsher than I have been with you right now on many occasions. Sometimes too harsh, regretfully. Now finish unpacking your things if you have not done so already. After that, you will do some school work. You do not have to go to classes today but you will need to look at the lessons you are missing. This afternoon, we will go swimming as I promised." He had been honest in answering her question about Lakhri but that did not mean he liked to talk about his previous failures as a master any more than necessary.

Raven pulled up her trousers, again noticing that it didn't hurt as badly as it had before. The idea of homework didn't thrill her, it never had, but Raven obeyed all the same.

Unpacking did not take very long. Eeth had packed enough to last her, but not too much. She splashed her face with water in an effort at cleaning herself up a little; there even was snot in her hair! Raven was usually quite a pretty child. At the moment, though, her eyes were red and puffy, her face was patchy, and her hair looked like a gundark nest. Eventually, she got herself sorted out and wandered out to their common room, data pad in hand. Ordinarily, she would do her homework at the dining room table, but today she lay on the couch and began working from there.

Eeth did not mind her position, as long as the work got done. He needed to leave Raven to her own devices, anyway, because a Council meeting had been called during which, among other issues, Rayan's future within the Order was going to be discussed.

"Meet me at the dining hall for lunch," he told Raven. "I do not know exactly how long the meeting is going to take. I will call you when it is finished. Probably around one thirty."

"Yes, master," Raven replied, looking up from her data pad. She knew what was expected of her, and so when Eeth left, his cloak billowing behind him, Raven kept at her homework until it was done. What little was left of her morning after that was spent finishing chores that hadn't been done while she was in the healer's ward. Then, as promised, Eeth contacted her, and they arranged to meet for lunch. Their visit to the pools that afternoon was fun, even if Eeth had said that it was training… Raven enjoyed it despite not being allowed on the slides thanks to her recently broken arm.

That evening Raven sat on the couch watching holo, yawning. It was only eight o'clock, though, and far too early for a padawan to go to bed regardless of what had happened during the day or how tired she actually felt.

Unfortunately for Raven, Eeth did not agree. "Padawan, I think you should go to bed," he said as he heard her surreptitiously suppress a yawn. "The pain killers are still affecting your system and you have had an exhausting couple of days. We will put in a short meditation and then you will get some sleep."

"I wasn't yawning because I am tired and need to go to bed. It's only eight, not even initiates go to bed that early," Raven said, getting to her knees and flopping her side into the back rest of the couch so that she could see Eeth seated at their dining room table.

"I am sure they do when they break their arm, receive treatment and are exhausted," Eeth replied firmly, looking up at her. "And you are. Do not try to deny it."

Raven let her arms flop over the back of the couch. "Maybe. But can't I stay up for just another ten minutes?" This wasn't about what she needed, but about her padawan pride.

"You," said Eeth, who surmised as much, "will get ready for bed. Now. Be back here in ten minutes."

"Aww…" But that was the extent of her protestations. After today, Raven was utterly unwilling to disobey or push Eeth too far. Thus, before Eeth could comment further, Raven had flicked off the holo projection and was in her refresher getting ready for bed.

Exactly ten minutes later, Raven padded out into their common room dressed in a sleep shirt and underpants. It was only ten past eight, but she did not complain. Instead, she sat (a little carefully) on the chair opposite Eeth and tried to feign interest in whatever it was that he was doing.

Eeth finished the sentence he was writing and put the datapad down. "Would you like to meditate on the balcony?" he asked.

"So, I can't stay up but I can meditate? What lengths must I go to in order to get out of meditation?!" Raven wanted to know.

"You will not get out of it at all unless you catch the Corellian flu," Eeth said drily. "And I would not recommend that. Meditation is really preferable.

"Says you." Raven was teasing him, although she wasn't sure how much cheek would be wise at this point in time.

"Meditation, padawan," Eeth said firmly. "Then bed."

"Bully." It was said quietly, and with a smile on her face. Raven didn't mind meditating with him, although the sitting still part was trying.

A quarter of an hour later, Eeth came to tuck her in. He felt that he probably ought to make sure that she was coping well with the rather harsh punishment she had received.

"I hope you do not regret your decision to become my padawan," he said quietly while she was settling down under her blanket. He still suspected that Lakhri had, at this point of his apprenticeship, although the man had vehemently denied it when they had once talked about this.

Raven shot him a quizzical look before reaching up tentatively and hugging him. It was a brave move as it had not gone unnoticed to her that affection was something he found uncomfortable. "I'm proud to be your padawan, master. I want to be like you." She hoped he would sense her gratitude and not the insecurities buried beneath it.

"Thank you, padawan," Eeth said gravely, returning the hug a little stiffly, but sincerely. "I am sure you will once become a knight I will be proud of. Now sleep well."

"Yes mas-ter," Raven replied through a yawn.

She could hear him rustling about in the common room. Probably doing more work for the Council or something, she thought. Her life had changed so much over the last month that at first, it all seemed like overload. Now it was becoming routine, and with that came the comfort of familiarity.


End file.
